Rose Hillers

Crimson Rosellas are a dime a dozen at our place – permanent residents that have been recorded, usually in quite large numbers, for every month of the twenty years that we have been keeping records. Not so their close cousins Eastern Rosellas, which although fairly common usually make only a fleeting appearance and are much more wary. So it has been pleasing that recently a group of four Easterns has been regularly spotted here on our COVID-19 lock-down walks.

The Eastern Rosella is the “original” rosella, whose name has an interesting back story. They were a common sight to the early colonists (or invaders, depending on your viewpoint) around Rose Hill (now Parramatta) west of Sydney. So they became known as Rose Hill Parrots, shortened to Rose Hillers and subsequently Roselle and eventually Rosella, by which sole name it was known for some years – the Crimson Rosella in those days being known as Crimson Parrot among several other early names. [Ref. Ian Fraser and Jeannie Gray, Australian Bird Names (2013)]

Other early names for the Eastern Rosella included Rosehill Parrakeet, Common Rosella, Rosy, Red-headed or White-cheeked Rosella and Nonpareil Parrot, aptly describing as “unequalled” the bird’s amazingly coloured plumage.

Due to their continual wariness, the few photos we managed to take have been front-on and fail to show the wonderful contrasting patterns on the back of the bird, which can be seen on the photo at right taken by David Francis, NatureShare.