Animal Diaries Archive

What's Elmo Up To?

13 August 2004

Even though things are still very cold here at Australia Zoo, our birds are still loving their chance to get out and fly. In fact, with the typical westerly winds due at this time of year they are about to have an absolute blast! With a lot of the birds that are flying in the show, we have this week started getting them acquainted with the rest of the Zoo. Along with giving them more flying exercise, it helps them orientate if they get a little lost at any point. This is a vital part of the bird's development as it requires the birds to think like wild birds and utilise trees and other objects to land on. It also gives them some extra variety from the show routine in which they fly every day. This week has again given us another.

New show bird - his name is Elmo, and he is a Red-Collared Lorikeet. It won't be long until he is joined in the air by his siblings, who are still developing in their eggs at the Rainforest Aviary (they don't fly too well just yet!).

Elmo - Red-Collared Lorikeet (Trichoglossus aematodus rubritorquis)
Elmo is the newest and youngest member of the bird show team. At present he is only four months old and has just done his first show this week. The Red-Collared Lorikeet is a subspecies of the more well-known Rainbow Lorikeet which is found in the north-western parts of the country. Elmo was hatched here at the Zoo in the Rainforest Aviary and was hand-raised by our staff. He started his flight training as soon as he had his feathers and progressed very quickly to being flown free. He is without a doubt the fastest level flight bird that we are presently using in the show and hardly lands at all during his time in the arena. He is also a typical lorikeet in that he is extremely bossy and always has something to say - but hey, we all know someone like that! We love him dearly and he really puts some spice in the group.