Parrot pecking order - Rainbow Lorikeets

The flock of Rainbow Lorikeets at Dr Romesh's Bird Sanctuary has grown to about 35 birds. This video studies their pecking order.

Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus moluccas) were initially named Trichoglossus haematodus by the famous Swedish classifier Carl von Linne (Linneaus), meaning "blood-stained hairy tongue", due to the red feathers on their chest. The sexes are alike, though the males tend to have more red and less yellow on their breasts.

Rainbow Lorikeets are true parrots and are native to Eastern Australia though they have been introduced to Western Australia and its capital city Perth. They are also found in Indonesia, New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.