The Rainbow Lorikeet is one of seven species of lorikeet and is native to Australia. They can be found all along the east coast of Australia, from northern Queensland through to South Australia. While they are similar in size to the Eastern Rosella, their brightly coloured plumage makes them easily distinguishable.

Habitats

The habitat of the Rainbow Lorikeet is coastal bushland, woodland, mangroves, rainforests and urban areas. They are communal roosters and join up into large, noisy flocks in the evening and early morning. However, they travel mainly in pairs. They are territorial birds, and each pair will aggressively defend its nesting and feeding area against all other birds. This aggression extends to larger birds as well as other Rainbow Lorikeets. They roost in treetops and rarely come to the ground.

Diet

Rainbow Lorikeets are herbivores and feed mainly on fruit, pollen and nectar. Their unique tongue is adapted to their diet and is long and flexible, allowing them to reach the nectar deep inside the flower. The tip of the tongue features a ‘bristle brush’ that helps lap up the nectar. Rainbow Lorikeets are the only birds in the world with this type of tongue. In addition, their muscular gizzard and intestinal tract are shorter than most birds. This makes consuming nectar highly efficient but ineffective at digesting seeds. While nectar forms most of their diet, they will also consume soft fruits such as apples, grapes, pears or figs, grains, insects, or larvae.

Breeding and lifestyle

Rainbow Lorikeets are monogamous and generally mate for life. They nest in tree hollows of eucalypts, paperbarks, honey myrtles and tea trees, choosing deep hollows from three to thirty metres off the ground to provide a safe nest away from predators. The female will lay 1-2 white, oval eggs up to three times a year. While their habitat includes rainforests, they prefer open country for nesting and generally don’t nest in rainforests. In Australia’s South and Eastern parts, they nest from August to January. In all other parts of Australia, nesting occurs year-round except for March. When the chicks hatch, they have no feathers and closed eyes. The fledgelings leave the nest after 54 to 57 days and join the communal roost. The Rainbow Lorikeet lives up to ten years in the wild and twenty-five years as pets.

Lorikeets as Pests

The Rainbow Lorikeet is considered a feral species in Western Australia (WA) after being accidentally released in 1968 from the University of WA campus. It is estimated there are now over 40,000 Rainbow Lorikeets in the wild in WA. The Department of Agriculture in WA has declared the Rainbow Lorikeet a ‘declared pest’ due to its behaviour of damaging fruit crops and bullying native birds out of their nesting sites. Consequently, they are considered a significant threat to declining birds species in WA, such as the Red-capped Parrot, Western Rosella, Australian Ringneck. The Rainbow Lorikeet is also a threat to the endangered Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo, Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo and Baudin’s Black Cockatoo.

Illegal releases of aviary birds in New Zealand in the 1990s resulted in a feral population of 150 to 200 birds. Subsequently, a live capture initiative from 2000 to 2002 eradicated them from the wild. However, they are also emerging as an invasive threat in Tasmania, where they compete for food and nests with the Musk Lorikeet, Swift Parrot and Green Rosella. Flocks of up to 100 birds have been spotted around the state though exact numbers in Tasmania are unknown. This has prompted authorities to trial a trapping program.