Crimson Rosella

Platycercus elegans ‡

Mortimer Nature Walk, Bunyip State Park, SE Vic IMG_9297 20211130 - elegans CLICK for another view.

Notes: Variable. All have blue cheeks, black-scalloped blue-margined wings & largely blue tail.
Crimson elegans, melanoptera, nigrescens, filewoodi: Crimson, black & blue. Juveniles mostly
green. Yellow flaveolus: crimson areas replaced with light yellow; tail more greenish; red frontal
band. Adelaide adelaidae, subadelaidae: variation in plumage from dark orange-red in S, to a
pale orange-yellow in N of range. Common in coastal & wetter mountain forests at all altitudes.

Range from Pizzey & Knight©(modified). Note: hybrid forms in overlap regions: a rare example of a ring species.
Blue Knob, NE NSW IMG_4921 20220613 - elegans CLICK for another, Beauchamp Falls Camp, SC Vic. Bear Gully Campground, SE Vic IMG_2369 20211124 - elegans 1st year immature: varying degree of green on body being
replaced by red. CLICK for one at Green Hill Lake, Ararat, C Vic 20190509. Tarra-Bulga NP, SE Vic IMG_4197 20190302 - elegans juvenile: except for crown, green replaces red on face, upper breast
& undertail coverts. Property, Lake Eacham, Tablelands, FN Qld IMG_2338 20200604 - nigrescens Darker crimson plumage, black nape
and smaller size but larger bill. Duck Lagoon, Kangaroo Isl, SE SA IMG_3063 20241029 - melanopterus, darker red, w. narrower red fringes to
mantle feathers, thus blacker appearance. CLICK for video feeding in grass. Lake Mournpall, Hattah Kulkyne NP, NW Vic IMG_2513 20190511 - flaveolus CLICK for another at Glenrowan Caravan
Park, N Vic 20211110. Deniliquin State Forest, S NSW IMG_5980 20200123 - flaveolus juvenile Adelaide Botanic Gardens, SE SA IMG_5838 20181205 - adelaidae (mostly). CLICK for a pair at Strathalbyn,
SE SA 20241113. Crystal Brook, SE SA IMG_1876 20241016 - subadelaidae (mostly) CLICK for video of birds feeding each other. Mambray Creek, Mt Remarkable NP, SE SA IMG_5396 20181203 - subadelaidae x adelaidae CLICK for another there. Property, Lake Eacham, Tablelands, FN Qld IMG_2350+2352+2359 20200604 - nigrescens Gunbower Island, N Vic MVI_4187 20170424 - flaveolus Black Rock, Melbourne, S Vic IMG_0317 20210812 - elegans