Pale-headed Rosellas
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Distribution:
Northern Queensland, South of Cairns and Mitchell River to Southern New South Wales
Description:
The Pale-headed Rosella is a pretty parrot with a strange color combination of a blue body and pale yellow head. There is red and green on the rump and blue on the underbelly; this blue is also on the face of Cape York individuals of this species, thus sometimes giving rise to the second common name of 'Blue-cheeked Rosella' (not tobe confused with the 'Blue-cheeked Rosella' group).
Their head, including cheeks and throat white; crown, nape and ear-coverts tinged pale yellow; breast blue to deep blue variable tinged yellowish-white; all feathers from breast and abdomen with fine dark edging; nape and back feathers black with broad gold-yellow edging; shoulder feathers black with broad greenish-blue and yellow edging; lower back and upper tail-coverts bluish-green, all feathers with fine dark edging; underside of flight feathers with white wing-stripe in both sexes; slightly larger.
Female on average smaller and often with paler breast abdomen feathers; bill mostly smaller. Immatures resemble adults, but with duller plumage; back of crown and nape often with a few scattered red feathers; paler under-wing stripe; adult plumage attained at 16 months.
Length: 32 cm (12.5 ins)
Diet:
Rosellas are customarily fed seeds, fruits, vegetables, eggfood, greens, mealworms, nuts, dog chow, bread, and minerals.
Breeding:
Rosellas are easy to breed; they are robust, do not fear cold but need a dry shelter. The breeding season usually starts in March or April (in Australia from September through January). During the incubation period she is fed by her mate. They nest in a wooden nest, high above the ground, filled with chips or turf.
The female lays 5 to 6 eggs that she incubates alone for about 21 days. During the incubation period she is fed by her mate.
It is recommended that couples are kept alone in an aviary, and to even avoid keeping two couples in two contiguous aviaries - as they may be aggressive.
Training and Behavioral Guidance:
- Parrots generally present challenges, such as excessive screaming or chewing - especially at certain stages in their life. They do discover their beaks as method of "disciplining us" once they are out of the "baby stage" and they can generally be somewhat naughty, and it really is important to learn to understand them and to guide their behavior before an undesirable behavior has been established. Undisciplined parrots will chew on electric wiring potentially causing house fires. They regard anything in your home as a "toy" that can be explored and chewed on; destroying items that you may hold dear or are simply valuable. Even a young bird that has not been neglected and abused requires proper guidance; this becomes even more challenging when it involves a rescued bird that may require rehabilitation.
- Web Resources: I put together web resources for you to help you understand your pet bird and properly direct him. Please visit this website for valuable tips on parrot behavior and training.
- If you are, as I am, a visual learner and prefer step-by-step instructions to train your pet, I recommend:
- the Parrot Training Course to teach your parrot to:
- Stop Biting
- Perform Tricks &
- Tame ANY SIZE bird you could possibly own
- and/or try the "Teach Your Parrot to Talk" Training Course.
- the Parrot Training Course to teach your parrot to:
Species: Scientific: Platycercus adscitus palliceps ... English: Pale-headed Rosella, White-cheeked Mealy Rosella ... Dutch: Bleekkop Rosella, Palliceps Parkiet ... German: Blaßkopfrosella, Blaubuerzeliger Blaßkopfrosella ... French: Rosella à tête pâle 
Sub-Species: adscitus, mackaiensis, amathusiae, pallicep
Sub-species:
Blue-cheeked or Pale-headed Rosellas: Species: Scientific: Platycercus adscitus adscitus ... English: Blue-cheeked Rosella ... Dutch: Blauwwang Rosella ... German: Blauwangenrosella, Gelbbuerzeliger Blaßkopfrosella ... French: Rosella à tête pâle du Nord
Description: Crown, nape and ear coverts pale yellow; upper cheeks and lores white; lower cheeks and under wing-coverts violet-blue; upper breast pale yellow, in many birds suffused with blue; lower breast and abdomen pale blue becoming greenish-blue mixed with yellow to sides; breast and abdomen feathers with fine dark edging; nape, back and 
shoulder feathers black with broad pale yellow edging, becoming pale greenish-blue on shoulders; inner median wing coverts black; bend of wing and outer median wing-coverts pale violet-blue; secondary-coverts pale blue; secondaries,outer webs to base of primaries and primary-coverts strong violet-blue; lower back greenish-blue, becoming bluish-yellow on the upper tail-coverts and with fine dark edging; under tail-coverts red; upperside of middle tail-feathers dark bronze-green becoming dark-blue at the tips; outer tail-feathers pale-blue with dark-blue base and pale tips; tail underside pale-bluish; bill pale light greyish-horn color; narrow periophthalmic ring grey; iris dark brown; feet dark grey. Female with whitish under-wing stripe; mostly smaller. Immatures as adults, but with duller plumage; often with a few grey and red feathers to head; paler under-wing stripe; adult plumage attained at 16 months. Length: 30 cm (12 ins)
Distribution: Cape York Peninsular, Queensland, Australia; overlaps with palliceps in Atherton Tableland.
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