Habitat and Geography- Look down
under, mate!
Rainbow lorikeets are found in northern and
eastern Australia,
the Solomon Islands, and parts of
Southeast Asia.
Recently though, there have been a number of rainbow
lorikeets showing up in the area near Perth, which is in west Australia. Many believe that
these birds escaped from aviaries in the 1960s and now are
showing up in areas they are not native to.
In Perth and Melbourne, the
rainbow lorikeets are out-competing native birds, like the
swift parrot, for nesting resources.
They have been declared a major pest in the
Perth
area. This topic is discussed further in the
Interactions section.
Rainbows like to live in lowland forest and
woodland areas, especially in hollow limbs and holes in
eucalypt trees.
These areas are popular for urbanization, which is why
Australia
is seeing more and more of these birds moving to urban
areas, such as Melbourne and Sydney.
Because a lot of these trees are being cut down, the
rainbow's habitat is becoming a topic of concern.
As mentioned in the
Adaptation section, rainbows are fairly successful in
their niche because of their ability to work as a group. In
areas where rainbow lorikeets are found, they are widely
distributed, sometimes even considered abundant.
Click here to learn about the
various adaptations rainbow lorikeets have made.
