Have you ever wondered where the birds roost at night? We were sitting quietly at Moorunde just before dark. Along flew two mulga parrots and perched in a nearby mallee tree. They talked briefly to each other and then flew into the next tree and climbed right up into the leafy canopy.

One bird settled at once but the other fidgeted for a while before finding a spot to its liking. It was dark very shortly afterwards and if we hadn’t known those birds were there, we wouldn’t have been able to pick out where they were. They make no movements despite the noises we made.

Early next morning they were on the ground feeding before flying away. 

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One evening before sunset two Mallee ring-neck parrots flew into a eucalyptus tree and started to nip off the leaves which they would go over with their tongues before dropping them. I picked up one of these leaves and found the remains of the sugary substance which the lerp use to protect themselves. The sugar is obviously a good substitute when there is not much blossom around from which to get nectar

 Berna Clements
Natural History, May-Jun 1994

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