Hi from Canberra

[AussieChris]

Hello,

New member here, I am looking after a female Galah. She is from a friend of my GF who has cancer, and wanted all her birds to go to good homes. The bird is only a few years old, and doesn't talk. We haven't decided on a name that we both like yet.

She is very well natured, and has come from an aviary to inside a house. She loves to put her head up sleeves. When she is put back in the cage, she only gives a little Nip, not a bite.

Regards Chris

 

[Calace]

Welcome to the forum! I look forward to hearing more about your new pet!

 

[MikeyTN]

Welcome to the forum!!!!

 

[Mike17]

G'day Chris, I have a good friend in Canberra called Chris! Strangely enough he and his wife often look after a female galah, his son's. But she dislikes women and bites them (including Chris' daughter-in-law). We moved from NSW to WA this year, when in NSW we spent as much time as we could in Canberra, we love it. If it weren't so expensive we'd happily retire there. The "head up the sleeve" behaviour is interesting as we have a Little Corella (closely related to galah, of course) who lives on our veranda, and when I sit down out there he walks up and sticks his head up my trouser leg (we're talking LONG trousers here!). It's fortunate your galah only "nips" as our corella bites hard when cranky- he bit me to the bone, on my finger, when I tried to get him into his cage whilst we went through the madness of the packing to move to WA.

Great to see you in this wonderful forum.

 

[AussieChris]

Hello,

I had a Male before who didn't like women, and he once dug a tunnel in the back lawn. He used to spend time outside with the bottom of the cage taken out. He was going down, my arm went in to the elbow ! He also loved Crispy Bacon biscuits, and he could recognize the packet.

We are lucky having so many colourful birds here. I wish there was a program to breed and export them. There would be no deaths from smuggled birds, and there would be birds all over the world in case a disease wiped out a species here.

The comment about Radio people was after I heard a presenter say how stupid Galah's are. He ran over one that morning apparently. If I threw a Galah and him off a cliff, the Galah would fly and be fine. It would also survive fine in the bush without needing to be fed. Galah 1 Presenter 0.

Apparently Galah's have only been in the west for a short time, they followed water-holes that were made for cattle.

 

[MikeyTN]

The birds you guys have there, we have it here in the states as well. They already made their way around the world in all different countries as there's breeders of them all over the place. So the species wouldn't go extinct!

 

[AussieChris]

Hello Mikey,

There are Galah's everywhere here. They are under no threat. Some of the rarer birds are only found in small groups, and are at risk. Some species have been thought to be extinct for decades, like the Night Parrot. People will always want what they cant have, and there will always be dodgy people taking chicks from the nest to make large amounts of money.

My idea is have a large meshed in area with no predators, and plenty of food, good water and suitable supplements. There is a high mortality rate in the wild, when you think about it every pair of birds only has to produce 2 surviving young to keep the numbers up. More if conditions are good and food is plentiful. ( to offset bad seasons ) Now there are a number of people that could look after birds and run such a venture. Many people with a range of disabilities have a gentle nature and will bond well with animals. It is not just Birds that go OS this way, many other native animals such as Reptiles are taken for export. If they are bred here, and in good condition they wont be at much risk when exported. The other thing is they will be accustomed to people and wont be as stressed being shipped in a cage, rather than stuffed into a sock in a suitcase. ( thinking out loud a bit here ) I would like to see a secure future for all species of native animals and the dodgy people go out of business. You will never catch all of them, so if they cant make money they will stop doing it.

 

[Mike17]

There are quite a few galahs around here (Gascoyne region of WA) sometimes in mixed flocks with Western Little Corellas. Our (Eastern) Little Corella takes surprisingly little notice of them. We've even had flocks of several dozen (galahs) eatin seed from our front lawn which is a mix of couch and buffel grass. Zebra finches, too.

 

[AussieChris]

Hello,

I thought I joined a Parrot forum, not a cat forum I am taking a break.

 

[Marcy]

Chris Welcome to the forum! I am so sorry about your GF's friend! It is very kind of you to take her Galah, she will bring you much joy!