#western rosella

[branchflowerphoto]

moyadong {female western rosella}

there is a pandemonium of parrots on the farm right now

[redrcs]

First Sighting, Western Rosella

Near Manjimup

On my travels

[herpsandbirds]

Western Rosella or Moyadong (Platycercus icterotis), females, family Psitaculidae, order Psittaciformes, Western Australia

photograph by Jamie Angeles

[mutant-distraction]

Matt Laughton

Western Rosella

[daily-grian]

Mod Shrike is smart and apologized for accidentally drawing an American magpie but you still get western rosella Grian thrown at you

they're my favourite bird to ever exist no one will ever change my mind

Aussie backyard bird saga continues!

[proton-wobbler]

Great Backyard Bird Off - Schedule & Info

Round One Schedule

Cosmopolitan - posted February 1st & 2nd - 14 polls

Europe - posted February 11th - 9 polls

Africa - posted February 20th - 9 polls

Australia - posted March 1st & 2nd - 20 polls

New Zealand - posted March 11th - 7 polls

Asia - posted March 20th & 21st - 14 polls

the Americas - posted March 29th & 30th - 16 polls

Eurasia - posted April 8th & 9th - 14 polls

Poll Info

There are 8 brackets, with 208 species featured! Ranges were determined either using the self-report feature added to the submission box or with eBird sightings. "Cosmopolitan" is a bracket involving species of birds which were found on at least three continents, regardless of which they were submitted for. "Eurasia" are birds which seem to appear equally between Europe and Asia (majority of the continent, not just Middle East). "the Americas" includes all of the Americas, with US birds removed- granted, some Canadian or Mexican birds can show up in the US, but they're not common enough backyard birds (imo) to have been disqualified.

Please-- feel free to advocate for whichever bird you vote for! I would love to get some more participation with this tournament, especially since this is a poll with popular bird species.

Polls will be a week long, and are tagged #Great Backyard Bird Off. All subsequent reblogs are tagged as #poll reblog. Be sure to block this tag if you want to avoid me spamming your dash. Any reblogs containing support for a species will be tagged #[species] support. Results will be tagged #poll results.

Bird Support Google Form

vvv Participant List under the Read More vvv

Cosmopolitan (28 species)

Black kite, Black-headed gull, Bohemian waxwing, Canada goose, Common buzzard, C. Chiffchaff, C. Kingfisher, C. Loon, C. Myna, C. Nightingale, C. Swift, Eurasian Collared-dove, Eurasian Hoopoe, Eurasian (Common) Kestrel, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, European bee-eater, European (common) starling, Great crested grebe, Great gray owl, Grey wagtail, Little grebe, Ring-necked pheasant, Red-backed Shrike, Rock Pigeon, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Western barn owl, Western cattle egret, White (pied) wagtail

Europe (18 species)

Tawny Owl, Spotless Starling, Red kite, Middle spotted woodpecker, Great spotted woodpecker, Fieldfare, European Stonechat, E. Robin, E. Herring Gull, E. Goldfinch, Eurasian Green Woodpecker, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Eurasian blackcap, Eurasian (Common) Blackbird, Dunnock, Crested tit, Common wood-pigeon, Eurasian Blue tit

Africa (18 species)

African Harrier-hawk, Bearded barbet, Blacksmith lapwing, Bokmakierie, Cape starling, Cape white-eye, Dark-capped bulbul, Hadada ibis, House bunting, Klaas' Cuckoo, Kwevoel (Grey go-away-bird), Nile valley sunbird, Purple-crested turaco, Red-winged starling, Southern double-collared sunbird, Southern masked weaver, Spotted eagle-owl, White-backed mousebird

Australia (41 species)

Yellow Wattlebird, Willie-wagtail, White-faced Heron, Welcome Swallow, Weebill, Tawny Frogmouth, Tasmanian Nativehen, Superb Fairywren, Sulfur-crested Cockatoo, Splendid Fairywren, Sooty Owl, Red-browed Firetail, Red wattlebird, Rainbow lorikeet, Peid currawong, Pheasant coucal, Pacific koel, Noisy miner, Masked lapwing, Magpie-lark, Little corella, Lewin's honeyeater, Laughing kookaburra, Grey fantail, Grey butcherbird, Gang Gang cockatoo, Galah, Eastern spinebill, Eastern rosella, Crimson rosella, Crested pigeon, Crescent honeyeater, Bush stone curlew (thick-knee), Brown thornbill, Black swan, Bell miner, Austarlian ringneck, Australian magpie, Australian Ibis (Bin Chicken), Australasian Swamphen (Pukeko)

New Zealand (14 species)

Kaka, Kakaruwai (South Island robin), Karearea (NZ falcon), Kereru, Koekoea (Long-tailed Koel), Korimako (NZ bellbird), Yellowhead, Piwakawaka (NZ Fantail), Riroriro (Grey Gerygone), Satin Bowerbird, Silvereye (Tahou), Titipounamu (Rifleman), Tomtit, Tui

Asia (28 species)

Asian Koel, Azure-winged Magpie, Black-collared Starling, Brown-eared Bulbul, Colombo (House) Crow, Common Hill-myna, Eastern Buzzard, Japanese Robin, Light-vented Bulbul, Mandarin Duck, Masked Laughingthrush, Olive-backed Sunbird, Oriental Magpie-robin, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Palau Fruit dove, Palla's Gull, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Red-billed Blue magpie, Red Junglefowl, Red-whiskered bulbul, Ruppell's Weaver, Southern Hill-myna, Spotted dove, Swinhoe's White-eye, Whistling Green-pigeon, White-rumped munia, White-spectacled bulbul, Yellow bittern

The Americas (33 species)

Austral Thrush, Bananaquit, Blue-and-white Swallow, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Bushy-crested Jay, Canada Jay, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Chimango, Clay-colored Thrush, Common Potoo, Crimson-fronted Parakeet, Eared Dove, Great Kiskadee, Great Thrush, Green-backed Firecrown, Green-headed Tanager, Hoatzin, Lesson's Motmot, Masked Water Tyrant, Pacific Hornero, Pale-breasted Thrush, Plain Parakeet, Red-rumped Cacique, Ruddy Ground Dove, Rufous Hornero, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Russet-naped Wood rail, Sayaca Tanager, Southern House Wren, Southern Lapwing, White Bellbird, White-crested Elaenia

Eurasia (28 Species)

Black Redstart, Blue Rock thrush, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Common Chaffinch, Eurasian Bullfinch, Eurasian Bittern, Eurasian Jackdaw, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian Magpie, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Eurasian Siskin, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Eurasian Treecreeper, Eurasian Wren, European Greenfinch, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Hawfinch, Hooded Crow, Long-tailed Tit, Mistle Thrush, Northern Lapwing, Rook, Song Thrush, Spanish Sparrow, Yellowhammer

[anonsally]

Day 15 in Australia

A banner day for drive-by wildlife sightings

Today, after a couple of errands in Albany, we drove to Margaret River, about 4 hours away. Over the course of the day, we spotted a giant mob of kangaroos hopping through a field where cattle were hanging out, as well as another mob later and a few individual kangaroos in fields; straw-necked ibises (not the bin chickens but a related bird, and new for me); and lots of emus, including a few small groups. (What is the collective noun for emus? hmm. The internet says "mob" or "herd"... So do Australians just use "mob" for all animals then? because that is definitely the collective noun for kangaroos.)

We stopped for a little over an hour to do the treetop walk in the Valley of the Giants, a forest of tingle trees and she-oaks. It was a really lovely break from being in the car, and also, up to then we'd mostly been in coastal heathlands or open agricultural land, so it was great to be among actual trees. I was glad to have the rare opportunity to be in the canopy rather than below it, and I enjoyed the views of the upper parts of these tall trees. What I hadn't expected was that the treetop walk platforms and bridge spans were wobbly, which made it hard to focus on things in binoculars.

I didn't see many birds up there, but eventually I did spot an adult western rosella feeding a juvenile, which was really exciting! That was a new bird for me, and it was very colorful! Once we reached ground level, we also took a walk on the forest floor trail/boardwalk. I was very excited to spot a few red-winged fairywrens! Another new species for me. Very charismatic little creatures!

The trees themselves were beautiful and majestic, with interesting bark and a number of striking similarities with some of the California redwoods, though they aren't related. We were all refreshed and happy to have taken that break, but unfortunately, we had not brought food with us (there was no real food at the treetop walk), so it was another day of weird snacking in the car instead of eating anything substantial.

After another 2 hours of driving, we stopped around 4:30pm in a small town, where I finally got some lunch. Then it was still about an hour to Margaret River. When we arrived, we picked up a few groceries and found our accommodations.

We walked to an Italian restaurant for dinner, and I ate my favorite pasta dish. Then we stopped in a gelateria for dessert (I had pistachio gelato with whipped cream; Wife and her sister got semifreddi to bring home).

I started a laundry, and we played half a game of the 2000s version of Trivial Pursuit! I had never played it before; it is very different from the original version, but in a good way.

[pinkpinkmermayyy]

"What do you think of yuri/girls' love? Do you like it?"

"Of course, I'm a himejoshi!" ~ Marisol, Rosella, Ghaliaa

"Well...yes...I like it...a lot." ~ Itsuka

"Wait, who told you?" ~ Rosalinda, Ailani, the Duncans

"I really liked Bloom Into You." ~ Jennifer

"Of course, darling!" ~ Monique

"Nothing's better than reading yuri before breakfast!" ~ Naomie, Hitomi, Penelope

MY FAVORITE MEME EVER!!!!!

also I instantly read the last one with Naomie, Hitomi and Penelope in Applejack’s voice lolol (wait hold on IMAGINE A WESTERN AU-)

[awesome-animals-for-reference]

Parrots (pt 1)

birbas <3

Ochre Marked Parrot

very colorful.

Green Cheek Parrot

Hyacinth Macaw

Big Blue Birba

Spix's Macaw

Scarlet Macaw

Hardly the most obscure birba, but excellent nonetheless.

Western Rosella

smoll

Crimson Rosella

Black Lory

Black Capped Lory

Yellow Streaked Lory

Coconut Lorikeet

Rainbow Lorikeet

Biak Lorikeet

Pohnpei Lorikeet

[dreadfutures]

hello hi hello can I please have the directors' cut on Chrysalid mayhaps? 🥺👉👈

Fic: [Chrysalid]

Rating: G | Pairing: Cillian, Cillian & Solas | Multichap: 9/9

Cillian, once the First of Clan Ralaferin, set out to find ancient knowledge of the elven people. He discovered the path of the Arcane Warrior by meditating for many years in an ancient ruin; when the Breach appeared in the sky, he felt called to lend his skills to the fledgling Inquisition. That's all we know of his path, as a background NPC in Dragon Age: Inquisition, who appears solely in a war table mission and in the Multiplayer addition.

But how did he really get trained as an Arcane Warrior?

Honestly. This was Divine Inspiration at its finest. It was summer; I was missing my college town, where monarch butterflies go as a colony on their migration, stopping there to rest. I kept seeing a few of them flying by my current location on their way south. And I had the whimsical thought: isn't that magical?

I thought about how the inner sea region around Val Royeaux/western Orlais gives me California vibes, and the further south you go, the closer you get to the warm, nearly tropical Arbor Wilds. And I thought: sure, butterflies would work. But what do they lead to?

It was the Arlathan Exchange, and I had also been playing a lot of Multiplayer recently, and we were discussing Cillian one day and I said OH.

And the whole story just appeared.

It's my belief that "meditating in ruins" is either code for: Cillian read Elvhen writing and learned Arcane Warrior spec that way, OR, he communed with Spirits either directly, or by watching them reenact memories in the Fade. And honestly, teaching yourself to read a dead language with hardly a cypher to go off of, in a ruin, and teaching yourself this dead, historical martial-and-magical art that is like NOTHING ELSE IN EXISTENCE, seemed way more farfetched than "he found a cool Spirit."

@rosella-writes had just written a drabble of Valor, an ancient contemporary of Solas (Pride), being slain in a combat between Champions for the Evanuris. The way Rosella described Valor's body falling and lying in the center of the arena, dying, made me think: this must be immortalized, this must have left a scar, the very earth would remember, if not the denizens of the Fade.

Rosella and I have also often discussed how "pieces" of Valor might be left over, fragmented, and need to get pieced together again. How Solas might search for Valor after he awakens from uthenera, how he might miss her. So I figured, hey, I could leave a piece of Valor to be found.

Cuz boy, a spirit of Valor sure seems like a great teacher for this magical combat specialization!

Then it was just a matter of sprinkling in the luscious visuals in my mind, of giant hosts of butterflies and ghibli forests, of ruins that might be found in The Fall (2006), and of a magical circle of life and death worthy of Guillermo del Toro. Bring Valor back to life just as Cillian pieces together what the ruined temple is, and then handwave the fact that Valor teaches him as a ways to recover her own memories.

:)

[strictlyfavorites]

Western Rosella

[five-crows-in-a-trenchcoat]

the Himalayan monal is what they based Kevin from UP on!

But to add to the gorgeous bird list:

the magnificent Palawan Peacock Pheasant

the common bronzewing/bronzewing pigeon

the western parotia (which can only truly be appreciated in action: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wTwOxcOqlCA

my darling dearest, the forty-spotted pardalote

the absolutely stunning flame-faced tanager

And the green headed tanager as well!

And I’m legally obligated to include a parrot, so you may take a pale-headed rosella as well

lahore pigeons are some of the most visually appealing birds out there. like in terms of visual design. very minimalist, good contrast.

[mutant-distraction]

Matt Laughton

Western Rosella

[birdblues]

Western Rosella

[comfortspringstation]

Western Rosella (Platycercus icterotis) in Australia by Nathan Watson Photography.

[anonsally]

Day 16 in Australia

Wine tasting and birding

Today I went out for a little birding jaunt right after I got up, around 8:15 or so. We are staying right by a foresty area along the creek called Margaret River (after which the town is named), so I just walked into the foresty area. I only saw a few birds, as I had the usual problem with forest birding: it's very hard to see the birds. I had glimpses of birds I couldn't identify, but I did see a Pacific black duck in the water, and a pair of red-winged fairywrens in the understory. I emerged from the forest a little frustrated, but in the more open area by the houses I did see 2 galahs, a New Holland honeyeater, and a square-tailed kite (which was new for me).

We were picked up at 10:30am for a wine tasting tour. Our guide Terry, an affable retiree, drove us to a few different Margaret River wineries. We started at Juniper, which had a beautiful flower garden, a lawn with shaded picnic tables, and a river. I spotted a few birds there (though nothing new), and we tasted several wines. It was a beautiful day: not too hot, but very pleasant to be outside. Next we ate lunch at Fishbone Wines, which has a Japanese restaurant. My miso aubergine (eggplant) salad was exquisite. I saw a new bird: Gilbert's honeyeater. We went to two more wineries after that (I was really only having a sip or two of each wine and pouring out the rest, but it was still a bit much; I did however buy a bar of nice chocolate from one of the wineries), and finally a place that makes nougat in a dizzying array of flavors. Sadly, they only sell them in giant 180g blocks, which were too big to buy more than one of. We took a while to decide but finally opted for macadamia-wild berry. The macadamias were grown on the farm next door. Terry dropped us off around 4:30 or so.

I drank some water and almost immediately set off on my own for a long bird walk. It was a little under 2 hours. I started off with a good 15 minutes or so in front of the house across the street, which has a lot of flowering trees/bushes. I saw 3 different kinds of honeyeaters there: New Holland, Gilbert's, and brown (which was new)! There were also two square-tailed kites circling overhead for a bit. I then walked down the street and turned toward the river, where I found myself in the foresty area, but with a few businesses. I saw a few Australian ringnecks and got some photos of them (I hope some turned out okay). Then I crossed a pedestrian bridge over the river, spotting maned ducks and Pacific black ducks, and ended up in a playground. The surrounding trees were hives of bird activity, though, with several Australian ringnecks and no fewer than 3 laughing kookaburras! From there I found an entrance to Wooditjup National Park. I walked along a trail for a while. With a lot of patience, I did eventually see a few birds on the trail (it was also getting to be late afternoon by then, so there was more bird activity), including some red-winged fairywrens and what I assume was a western rosella because there doesn't seem to be anything else that red around here. It was also just nice to be in the forest, though I did get a nasty mosquito bite!

We ate leftovers for dinner and finished our game of Trivial Pursuit (I lost, but it was the Australian edition so Wife's sister had an unfair advantage).

I think tomorrow's plan involves caves and beaches.