Amazing footage shows 'thousands' of lorikeets circling sugar silo
Some lorikeets were flying in circles around the Queensland sugar silo while others lined the stairs and handrails.
Stunning footage of "thousands" of rainbow lorikeets racing around a sugar silo has captivated Aussies and experts alike.
The loud, energetic flock of lorikeets was captured in Mackay, Queensland congregating on what is said to be a sugar silo — with some sitting together, lining the metal balustrades and stairs while others flew in circles around the giant cylindrical frame. The familiar chorus of their screeches was the soundtrack to this visual phenomenon.
"I thought there were a few but in reality, there were thousands of them," Pawel said on his travel page, Outback Polaks. "They were all high on sugar and were racing each other around the silo."
What are the lorikeets actually doing?
Sean Dooley from BirdLife told Yahoo News Australia he has "never" seen rainbow lorikeets acting like this around a sugar silo before. Griffith University's Professor Darryl Jones was equally surprised by the footage, telling Yahoo this is most "definitely not a common phenomenon".
Both guessed, based on the footage alone, the group were either flocking around the sugar that may have spilled from the silo or were getting ready for bed — known as roosting.
"These birds spend a lot of time in huge deafening flocks, especially when they are getting ready for 'bed'," Jones said. "They roost in enormous communal roosts so gathering in 'swarms' is common."
In fact, Lorikeets prioritise two things "above all else" when choosing a place to sleep for the night, which the silo may offer. "Space for a large number of birds to settle down together, and crucially, lots of light," Jones wrote in his 2022 book, Curlews on Vulture Street.
Lorikeets also form big flocks when there is a large amount of food for them, and as "nectar feeders" it would not be surprising to see them attracted to sugar from the silo. "They're largely nectar feeders so they usually feed on sugar-rich nectar from flowers — usually native flowers," Dooley said.
Dooley did note that if it was the sugar attracting the birds and it was a regular occurrence, there would be a slight welfare concern due to the lack of nutrition found in processed sugar. "It just doesn't have the same complexities and nutritional value that wild food would have," he said.
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High-energy species found across Australia
Rainbow lorikeets are a species of parrot found in Australia, particularly along the east coast. They are so common that for BirdLife's Aussie Bird Count — which they have been doing every year since 2014 — they come out as the number one most-seen bird every year.
And, while most of us don't often see giant flocks hanging around sugar silos like this, Dooley said the energetic behaviour the flock was displaying is "pretty typical". "They're very energetic species," he said. "Like most parrots, they're highly intelligent and are very sociable."
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