Little/Long-billed Corella

[James Lowther]

This isn't an ID puzzler as such, more a search for some local knowledge. In June 2002 I encountered a number of corellas in a park on the south-east edge of Adelaide city centre (near the Race course I think). At the time I decided that they were Long-billed but watching Wild Down Under tonight reminds me that i've never been 100% convinced that they weren't Little Corellas. Can anyone help, or does anyone know for sure that either species is possible under those circumstances???
James

[pete woodall]

Hi James

I can't give you definite info on Adelaide but based on distribution maps, Little Corella seems the most likely.

However, many birds don;t read the maps and we have mixed flocks of both species around Brisbane - out of range according to many of the maps.

Peter

[Neil]

James,
Looking at my Pizzey & Knight it is more likely to be a Long-Billed in Adelaide. They have red/pink markings around the eye though which should id them from the Little Corella. Also a little red on the neck. In sydney in a flock size of about 100 Corellas I would expect to see only half a dozen Long-Billed if that.
Neil

[James Lowther]

Thanks for the info guys, I guess this proves that unless I can find someone who regularly birds that particular park, and knows for sure that only one species ever occurs, I'll never know! As it is i think i will have to trust my judgement, made on the basis of the fieldmarks, that they were long-billed - and hopefully next time i visit Australia i'll see cast iron examples of both. ;)

[Edward]

However, many birds don;t read the maps and we have mixed flocks of both species around Brisbane - out of range according to many of the maps.

Peter

Hi Peter

Aren't those Brisbane corellas birds that have escaped/been released from local aviaries and have now established populations? Seems a bit like taking coals to Newcastle to me, releasing parrots in Brisbane, it's not as if there is a lack of native parrots!

E

[pete woodall]

Hi James, Neil and Edward

My previous comments were made looking at the distribution maps in the "old" Atlas of Australian Birds published in 1984.

I've now had a chance to look at "The New Atlas of Australian Birds", published in 2003
which shows both Little and Long-billed Corellas in the grid blocks in and around Adelaide, and both at the lowest reporting rate (less than 10%). So that really doesn't help you, James, at all.

Edward, around Brisbane many people think that the Long-bills are birds ex-captivity, perhaps, but there is no hard evidence either way. The "new" atlas now shows records of them for most of the east coast to north of Brisbane (ca. Noosa) and then a few dotted records even further north. Looking at this distribution it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't a natural outbreak from their centre of distribution in Vic.

With the Little Corellas, again it is not certain whether they are ex-captivity or whether it is a natural movement to the coast from a more inland distribution. A couple of other species, most notably the Crested Pigeon, have done this.

Cheers

Peter