CléaIf you look too closely at rainbow lorikeets, you could be fooled by their colourful plumage into thinking they’re placid birds. But on closer inspection, they appear like aggressors. Their stance speaks of attitude and they move around ready to take what they want. They eat like vultures, leaving a trial of a mess behind everywhere. They grab the bell seed with one leg, they stand on top of it, and rip into it like their last meal, making a mess all over the surface laid out for them.
In the meantime, the elegant turtle dove circles them within a safe distance. While the lorikeets are too busy gorging themselves on food to care, the turtle doves may appear docile but they’re clever birds. They circle the lorikeets making their presence felt. With their thin soft beaks, and graceful steps, they can’t rip into the seed bell like the colourful birds. Instead, they peck at the scattered chunks of food left behind, and once the lorikeets have destroyed the bell and flown away, the turtle doves peck at their leisure.
Such is the pecking order of life.
Some days you’re a colourful lorikket, other days a quiet dove.
Tags: pecking order, rainbow lorikeets, spotted turtle doves
Sometimes you’re a quiet Magpie, tilting your head sideways and sizing up the other birds.
Gboy: Sounds more fun than noisy miners in search of twigs for a nest.