Page 48 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #02

BUDGIES

t first it was quiet. In the heart of the Above: males and birds but of captive companions. They are the world’s
Australian outback, the waterhole lay females can be told third most popular pet after dogs and cats, best known for
apart by the colour
silent and still; an undisturbed oasis in chomping on cuttlefish ‘bones’, their cheeky, loquacious
of the cere (the
the vast expanse of scorched, terracotta fleshy covering nature and their rhetorical enquiries, such as “Who’s a
earth. All around it the unforgiving at the base of pretty boy then?” But this highly social species is native
desert stretched as far as the eye could the upper beak, to Australia, where it can be found flying wild and free
surrounding the
Asee, peppered only with the occasional across most of the continent.
nostrils). In adult
parched shrub or straggly coolabah tree. Then, as the sun males it is blue When we think of murmurations – those mesmerising
began to rise, it appeared as if from nowhere. and in females it is displays of avian acrobatics – we tend to think, not of
In the distance, cutting through the early morning haze brown. Below right: budgies, but of European starlings. Who knew that
like a twisting gymnastics ribbon, a strange cloud rose budgies are highly budgies can murmurate too?
intelligent birds
and fell, twisted and turned, casting a series of sinuous
that remember
silhouettes against the cloudless sky. Ever-changing, never food and water SPECIAL SPECTACLE
still, the bizarre shape-shifter danced its way out of the locations and It is, perhaps, one of Australia’s best kept secrets. Indeed,
distance towards the waterhole. As it came closer, the blue when to visit them. most Australians have never heard of, much less seen,
h
e aerial antics of a bud
ith some flock
ie super
-flock. W
sky turned green, and the amorphous mass resolved into the aerial antics of a budgie super-flock. With some flocks
s
g
ion
b
o
d
’
ll
ntaining a mi
h
s or more, you
ir
d
’
ey
imagine t
d
the tiny bodies of hundreds of thousands of colourful containing a million birds or more, you’d imagine they’d
mi
o
ss
e
. Y
r
a
h
t
d
t R
birds. They wheeled wildly, screeching chaotically. The be hard to miss. Yet Roland
n
d
e
o
l
a
collective beating of a million wings was almost deafening. found gatherings of this
ound gatherings of this
Sitting quietly near the water’s edge, naturalist and size frustratingly hard to
ze frustratingly hard to
nd. One year, he received
wildlife photographer Roland Seitre found himself find. One year, he received
tip-off from a local farmer
immersed in one of nature’s most impressive and under- a tip-off from a local farmer
n Nullarbor, Southern
appreciated spectacles; a super-flock of wild budgerigars. in Nullarbor, Southern
ustralia, who told him
“I was totally surrounded,” he says. “I was in the flock. Australia, who told him
bout a super-flock that was
There were birds maybe a metre away from me, but they about a super-flock that was
took no notice at all. The air was electric.” visiting his waterhole twice
siting his waterhole twice
day. But by the time Roland
When we picture budgies we tend to think not of wild a day. But by the time Roland
rrived, both the cloud of birds
arrived, both the cloud of birds
and the water had evaporated.
nd the water had evaporated.
With no idea where to go
With no idea where to go
“ IT WAS THE MOST FANTASTIC NATURE
next, Roland followed another
ext, Roland followed another
tip that led him to Western
p that led him to Western
SHOW I’VE EVER SEEN,” SAYS ROLAND.
ustralia, where he finally took
Australia, where he finally took
he photographs you see here.
the photographs you see here.
“A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EXPERIENCE.”
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