Eastern Rosella: A Story and Some Snaps

Last updated on 21 April 2016

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When I was in my last year of high school, my friend Roz asked me if I wanted to go with her and her Mum up to Auckland for a few days. Being the adventurer that I pretend to be, of course I said yes and we drove the 7 hours up the country to Auckland. We had a great time wandering around the city centre, buying nail polish and clothes and various other things that, to be honest, I can’t even remember, but one day we walked to Cornwall Park, and One Tree Hill Domain (no, not the show) for an afternoon. As we were walking down the road, through the park I swore I saw a parrot.

“I swear I just saw a parrot,” I said, and tried to find it again. We kept walking, and then sure enough, there it was again. Being the bird-life-ignorant 17 year olds that we were, we had no idea that this was a normal thing to see in the middle of Auckland. We followed the parrot, ever questioning whether or not we should ring the Auckland Zoo to tell them we found their missing rainbow bird. It was only later that evening, when we were telling Roz’s mum about our park adventure, did we find out that actually the Eastern Rosella could be found in many places around Auckland, and that they were a normal occurrence in this big city.

Being from a reasonably small city further south, we had no idea. But now that I live in Auckland, I see these lovely birds all the time, and every time I laugh a little at 17 year old me. Our house looks out on New Zealand native bush, and in the bush there are 3 of these beautiful birds, and the often have meetings in one of the trees right next to our fence. Despite it being a very grey day, I managed to snap a few pictures of said meeting, and I thought I’d share them (and the story) with you today.

Aren’t they pretty birds? I really like having them around in our back yard, and it’s fun to see them flying over the bush nearly every day. It’s great having a telephoto lens to be able to get some pictures like these without disturbing them at all. I hope I”ll be able to get some more of these Rosellas soon!