Bird of the month: Galah

Posted on 23 June, 2021 by Ivan

Welcome to our sixteenth Bird of the month, a partnership between Connecting Country and BirdLife Castlemaine District. Each month we’re taking a close look at one special local bird species. We’re excited to join forces to deliver you a different bird each month, seasonally adjusted, and welcome suggestions from the community. We are lucky to have the talented and charismatic Jane Rusden from BirdLife Castlemaine District writing about our next bird of the month, with assistance from the brilliant Damian Kelly.

Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)

Recently I had the absolute pleasure of visiting Nature Foundation’s property, Witchelina Nature Reserve, near Marree in South Australia and I highly recommend making the effort to visit. Whilst there I saw desert birds that Victorians get very excited about because their ranges don’t extend this far south. These are birds we rarely see and birds we commonly see, like the Galah. This bird is either overlooked or labelled a destroyer of crops, but lights up in clear desert light showing off the most stunning pink face and body.

Cockatoos are known to be very intelligent the world over, and this includes the Galah. They have readily adapted to altered habitats such as farmland, particularly cropping, with accompanying water sources. I saw them at Witchelina utilising open woodland and mallee, with the exception of the driest areas. They can often be seen in mixed flocks with both Corella species and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, feeding on any area of open ground.

However, Galahs have also learned to utilise tall forests and coastal areas, a seemingly far cry from their original dry interior ranges. Interestingly, while the Galah was known rarely in Tasmania, there is now an expanded breeding population. In another example of the ability of this species to move vast distances, in 1966 in response to drought, a flock of Galahs moved from inland areas to Maroochydore in Queensland, where they now reside and breed. Its wide distribution and abundance positions the Galah as perhaps the most successful member of the cockatoo family.

Female Galah with her pink eye (photo by Jane Rusden)

Due to their adaptability, Galahs have landed in the crosshairs of parties with grievances towards them. This is an extra sad dilemma as they form permanent pair bonds for the life of a bird and have complex social structures. They will often use the same nest in a tree hollow year after year, rearing young who remain dependent for several months in the nest, then another month in a creche, still being feed by their parents.

On a lighter note, studies have shown their love of what humans call mischief. Galahs can undo bindings on grain bags for a free feed, will play and swing on wires, roll down inclines and play with objects using their feet, while lying on their backs. To bathe they love to hang upside down with their wings out, in the rain. No wonder the slang for a person being a bit of a goof is ‘you’re a Galah!’