Lorikeets

[SCraig]

Also from the zoo today a couple of shots of some Rainbow Lorikeets. These guys always look like they are about to start laughing to me. Actually, now that I think about it, their squawk does sound a lot like a laugh

 

[oldhippy]

Beautiful. Number one is stunning. Such radiant color.

 

[robbins.photo]

Wow.. amazing!

 

[SCraig]

Beautiful. Number one is stunning. Such radiant color.

Wow.. amazing!

Thanks, guys. There are a bunch of them in their aviary and they fly free in there. They will land on the visitors, eat nectar that is fed to them, etc. Both of those shots were close enough that I had to take a couple of steps back to get to minimum focus distance

It appears that each of them have slightly unique coloration, but they are all so beautifully vivid. Apparently the only constant is the pattern around their eyes. It's a lovely sight to see such vivid colors flying around, I can only imagine what it's like to see a flock of them in the wild.

 

[BillM]

Agreed, beautiful colors !!!

 

[baturn]

Beautiful! I like the unusual angle of #1.

 

[SCraig]

Agreed, beautiful colors !!!

Beautiful! I like the unusual angle of #1.

Thanks, guys. Glad you like them.

From what little I've read about them it appears that there are several sub-species of this species (Rainbow Lorikeet). They are native to Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia with about 55 sub-species, all of which appear to have something to do with their coloration. For example, "Red-Chinned Lorikeet", "Blue-Crowned Lorikeet", and so forth. It's possible that the zoo has numerous sub-species of them which explains the difference in coloration and marking.

Brian, they are a species of Parrot and when they want something they bob up and down like Parrots. This guy was sitting on a branch bobbing up and down and the shot caught him while he was "Down" I guess he wanted me to feed him but I didn't have anything. Luckily a young boy near me had a cup of nectar and took care of him for me.