日本名ではゴシキセイガイインコ。
体長25-30㎝、オーストラリア東部で観られるゴシキセイガイインコでは頭部と腹部は濃紺色から青紫色、背面、尾羽は明るい緑色、そして胸部とくちばしはオレンジ色です。
街路樹に止まっているところがあまり目立たないのですが、日本のスズメのようにケアンズの街中では頻繁に見かけることが出来ます。
特にケアンズの海沿いのエスプラネードの街路樹には一本の木に群れで何十匹も止まっており、木の実をあさってるところを見かけます。また、群れで動いている為、数羽が飛ぶと一斉にカラフルな羽根を広げて高速で群れで飛び立つところを間近で見ることができます。
人懐っこい性格で、餌付けすれば手乗りインコに育てることができるが、群れになるとけっして心地よい鳴き声とは言えないように思います。
【Australia Birds】Rainbow Lorikeet
It is commonly found on the east coast from Queensland to South Australia and northwestern Tasmania.The Rainbow Lorikeet is found in a wide range of tree habitats which are rainforests, coastal shrubs, woodlands as in well-treed urban areas.
It’s main diet is flowers of trees or shrubs to harvest nectar and pollen, but also eats fruits, seeds and some insects.
The rainbow lorikeet is a medium-sized parrot, with the length ranging from 25 to 30 cm, including the tail. The weight varies from 75 to 157 g .
It is a medium to small parrot which is very bright. The head is dark blue or violet with a greenish-yellow nuchal collar, and the rest of the body is green. The chest and beak is orange/yellow. The belly is deep blue.
The Rainbow lorikeet is not so noticeable while you're driving on the highway roadside trees, but you can often see them in the streets of Cairns especially early morning and in the evening
In many places,wild lorikeets are so used to humans that they can be hand-fed
They tend to roost in large groups. Their behaviour is quite comical at times, especially at mating time, when the male tries to impress the female with a display of bobbing, bowing and prancing.
Though males and females behave differently, it's very hard to tell them apart just by their appearance.
They are common as pets and trained to talk but on the other hand in the wild when roosting the can be quite noise with their screeching sound