Among the birds that people like most to rear are parrots, parakeets, lovebirds, doves, and canaries. They rear or hunt some birds to get their flesh for food, or feathers to decorate hats and dresses. While people rear some of birds as pets, they treat some other birds as pests although they like rearing them as well. One of them is the Rainbow Lorikeet.

This colorful bird measures about 30 cm. comprising of many brightly colored patches of feathers. The stomach and head of this bird is in blue and violet with the back of the head area as well as its tail is in a shade of yellow and green. Their eyes and its beak is of a brightly contrast of orangey-red whilst its legs are a green-gray and under-wing is orange. Lorikeets are named mostly by their habitats and color. Apart from the rainbow lorikeet there is also the Biak, Blue-Faced, Green-nape, Dark-Throated, Brook’s, Pale-head, Ninigo and the Southern Green Naped lorikeets.

The countries where the rainbow lorikeet is most common are Australia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu. Their natural habitats in Australia where they could be seen mostly are in Northwest Tasmania, Southern Australia, and Queensland, and frequently their broods live hollows of trees, in savannahs and lowlands, and bush country, near woodland and coastal and rain forested areas. Flocks can be in the range of twenty with the least amount of five birds, living in communities of thousands that usually gather together in the late evening. They prefer not to land on the ground as much as possible and bathe by flying through the rain and tall wet grasses and foliage.

The rainbow lorikeet’s food consists of pollen, honey, insects, fruit, and seeds. They are considered as an important bird for the reason they use up pollen as food to pollinate the coconut flower. However as they eat ripe grain, oats, carrots, spray millet, grapes and canary grass seeds, apples, buckwheat, sunflower seeds, and meal worms, they can also destroy large harvests in next to no time. Yet, people love to have them as pets even though they can be destructive pests. And in such instances they should be in pairs in an aviary that is long and set to a temperature of 75oF. There should be suitable perching and facilities for baths as well.

Fruit orchard owners, especially the larger farms consider the lorikeet as a pest by the way they eat up their harvests. These are also very noisy birds as they gather in extremely large flocks at sunset. Nevertheless the rainbow lorikeet is valued as a beautiful pet to have.
Sabung Ayam
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