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  Profile

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  In flight

Parrots

Galah

Eolophus roseicapilla

• common
• 70 km/h
• Starter
• Least Concern

Rose-pink and dove-grey, screaming in flocks across Australia. 'Galah' is also Australian slang for a fool. Earned it.

Population

Global population size not quantified by IUCN/BirdLife; described as common, with extent of occurrence ~10,100,000 km² and population trend suspected increasing (ongoing habitat degradation creating new suitable habitat)

Habitat

Open woodland, grassland, farmland, and urban parks/gardens across Australia, typically near water and with at least scattered trees for shelter; avoids dense/high-rainfall forest and treeless sandy desert

Fun fact

The Galah is so characteristically loud, gregarious, and flamboyantly pink-and-grey that its name became Australian slang for a fool or clown.

Range

Native across most of mainland Australia and some offshore islands (originally scarcer in the far south-west and Cape York, since expanded via land clearing); introduced/naturalized populations in Tasmania (mid-20th century) and New Zealand (late 20th century)

Diet

Primarily a ground-foraging granivore — seeds of grasses and cultivated grain crops — supplemented with fruits, berries, nuts, roots, green shoots, leaf buds, bark/leaf stripping, and occasional insects and larvae

Size

0.355 m

Lifespan

20 years