Rainbow Lorikeets - How a Little Parrot Conquered a Continent

The rainbow lorikeet has a heart of gold and an insatiable will to dominate. This time we'll find out how this humble parrot took over a nation and won us over in the process.
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[@MrNotaracist93]

Most nature docs will just say "this species is native to australia" and completely neglect that australia is a massive place where native animals can become pests elsewhere. I admire how thoroughly you explain everything in these videos while keeping it entertaining! Keep up the good work

[@the-Backyard-Naturalist]

Yeah they don't seem to realise that Australia is a continent with many diverse ecosystems and climates, separated by deserts, mountains and seas.

[@ianking-jv4hg]

Also there are subspecies of rainbows in Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomons, Vanuatu and the New Hebrides.

[@kredonystus7768]

Same goes with laughing kookaburras. Most WA locals don't realise they are introduced and outcompete the native kingfishers.

[@user-gz9sy8rh6f]

We are the “ pests” ! We intrude their world.

[@ianking-jv4hg]

@@user-gz9sy8rh6f tell that to my mad rainbow lorikeet "ARky" (almost road kill) Trichoglossus haematodus. A well travelled bird that couldn't fly. Walk, car, boat, bus, train but no plane ! Mad, he liked good loud music and getting almost as drunk as me.

[@aarondavies5621]

the amount of excitement when I see a new backyard naturalist viddy drops >>>

[@grandmothergoose]

Same. I check every Sunday night and if there's no new video from this channel, I find myself rewatching the previous ones again.

[@r4gn4r0k69]

whats bro pointing to 😭😭😭 stop like begging kid

[@depreshawn]

​@@r4gn4r0k69 me when i skip maths class:

[@jackaufenhand5710]

My aunt has a pet lorikeet. His name is Paulie and he likes to imitate people. He imitates calling the dog, phone calls, and when my aunt smokes a bong, he not only imitates the sound of the bong, but also specifically imitates her cough afterward. He also imitates her laugh even when it devolves into coughing.

[@robwilcox7284]

That comment is pure gold 👏🏻😂 I would love to meet your Aunt and her pet Lorikeet 🫶🏼

[@jzawh]

I love this 😅

[@AV-sl9wg]

Our son and his fiance also have two of them which the male will initiate everything he hears including the radio conversation of the host, the dishwasher, the microwave and of course the laughter.

[@Mugruncher]

Your aunt sounds cool as hell 😎

[@georgew.9663]

Your aunt sounds fukin mad

[@FleshWizard69420]

The bird:🥰 The bird's call: 👹 Love the Lorikeets

[@tazgecko]

Love these birds. Sitting back with a hot cupper watching these guys stuff around. Weekends are made for it.

[@danielkelly8756]

That's the sulfer cockatoos, the rainbow lorikeets have sweet calls

[@Zoosmell413]

And magpie's are the opposite.

[@bygoditsfullofstars]

Aussie birds in a nutshell

[@humanrich]

“Confetti conquistadors have colonised this continent.” Fantastic writing.

[@Ihadthismate]

“These sky high tie dyes” is perfect

[@humanrich]

@@Ihadthismate it’s giving Lano and Woodley.

[@shakeelali20]

The Rainbow Lorikeet. Arguably the cutest and most annoying alarm clock in existence. The soundtrack to most Aussie's mornings across the country.

[@trinefanmel]

Can relate. Sometimes they all decide to roost in the eucalypts on the next hill over from me. On the evenings they roost there, you can hear them as late into the night as 12 or 1 am. I walked under there one afternoon just as they were roosting for the night and it was DEAFENIING! I loved it!

[@murkrowo]

We get hoards of these guys in spring down where I live, always a joy to see them :)

[@uzetaab]

It bears repeating that if you want to feed native birds you do it by planting native trees.

[@justaperson8381]

The picture of the lorikeet with a gun got me

[@peg7973]

My favourite bird in the whole wide world.

[@NeedsMoreBirds]

They're beautiful little bastards, that's for sure.

[@martinkuliza]

they are, and cheeky little bastards at that

[@richardwinzor2961]

Threw in every nickname but the flying fruit tingle.

[@metaidentity]

Ah, the rainbow mafia. Another great video :)

[@zeropoint546]

That is exactly what my wife and I call them.

[@pipers_river]

The second Tassie hybrid Lori is giving Rainbow Paddlepop

[@jonh9561]

Rarer than an Eshay with a valid train ticket ........gold!

[@Divadosaurus]

It made me lol out loud

[@benstevens3220]

Darcy mate! You made it happen!! Thank you so much. Love seeing these shrieking rainbows in my back yard.

[@the-Backyard-Naturalist]

Made this one just for you mate

[@adventure_onthedaily9851]

‘Their customer-facing parts’ had me cackling

[@jimmywrangles]

As a wildlife carer we used to call these birds "Flying Boltcutters", they'll bite you and then make eye contact and bite harder...scary hard.

[@grantb8168]

My Buddy and his untrustworthy Missus decided to amp up his relationship with me this year. He said, "If I land on you're head, I want sunflower seeds. If I land on your shoulder, I want sunflower seeds and if I land on your screen door and whistle for thirty minutes, I want sunflower seeds." Apparently sunflower seeds are his favourite because if I feed him other seeds, he gives me the bird, (pun intended) and disappears for several days. Picky bloody eater. Awesome job, Darcy ... and the Oscar goes to, The Backyard Naturalist. Yay.

[@the-Backyard-Naturalist]

That's a little bit wholesome! Always a pleasure to read your comments Grant

[@grantb8168]

@@the-Backyard-Naturalist Nice to know I have a purpose in life, Darcy; I'll try to up my game for the next Blockbuster Episode of The Backyard Naturalist. I knew I should have poignantly referred to "More Rainbows than a Pride Parade on Acid." Of course, my uping my game means the expectation is on you to exceed all previous endeavours. Where else is my inspiration going to come from? See you in the next one.

[@grantodaniel7053]

Hi Grant, you want to be careful with the sunflower seeds - they're chock full of fats. We "spoiled" our pet galah with them because they were his favourite too, and we nearly lost him. He developed a large lipoma in his lower abdomen which had to be surgically removed, and the vet, after querying his diet, told us about the high fat content of the sunflower seeds. So we keep them to a minimum in his diet now. His fave treat now is brocholli?! 😅😅 All the best from SA. 👍

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

Broccoli hey? Will be planting some soon and will see if our noisy arsehat likes it

[@seaztheday4418]

Please consider feeding them fruit and flower blossoms instead. Being fed too many seeds can destroy the delicate 'feather' on their tongues that they use to eat their natural diet; fruits and flower nectar. If their tongues are damaged, they find it harder to survive in the wild.

[@grahamogorman7831]

I love Rainbow Lorikeats. Had 200 walking n climbing on me daily n eating out of hand. Have seen them SMASH Kurrawongs

[@Lara-rj5fi]

Woohoo, another video from our Aussie Attenborough. ❤

[@moodycxnt]

I notice the red, blue and yellow all camouflage well too. When they're feeding on nectar the red and yellow often blends in with flowers and shrubs, and blue with the sky!

[@Centurion13]

Fuck yeah Lorikeets.

[@jess53nz]

Omg dude, cackled at "sorry bro" 🇳🇿❤️🇦🇺

[@sicpuppy9435]

My hand raised female rainbow Lorikeet lived for 30 years and had a vocabulary of around 6 / 8 words

[@chiaroscuroamore]

The combo of dry humour and information is perfect!! Keep up the good work!

[@colinross6259]

Had a backyard with a gum and bottlebrush tree. The normally bully noisy minors went quiet and moved away when the Loris come to town. Thanks for another insight to a great Aussie bird.

[@NeuroKytsh]

every summer all i ever hear is lorikeets in my back garden, its great. i have wattlebirds and ravens living in my garden too and theyre all always bickering, endless entertainment

[@qbmac2306]

Your alliteration never ceases to amaze me.

[@ConstantlyDamaged]

Ah. Glad they pissed off and didn't hang around my little sparrow feeder, then. I think they dropped in only to cause some biffo. They'd brawl with sparrows and spotted doves like crazy, hardly even go near the feeder, then leave again. Thanks again for another great video!

[@the-Backyard-Naturalist]

They absolutely live for a punch on

[@Jagermonsta]

6:25 I'm in QLD, about 3 weeks ago I had to take a Lori to the vet, it wasn't able to fly and wasn't able to walk properly. Still put up a good fight when I put it in the box though, hope the little guy is alright. Doesn't sound good though :(

[@MagpieManor]

Really love these cheeky, noisy Birds! They always come in pairs or massive flocks and they have their own personalities. Oh and the colours and chirps are the best! Thanks for the video! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@the-Backyard-Naturalist]

Thank you! Love your birdy vids :)

[@MagpieManor]

@@the-Backyard-Naturalist 👍👍👍

[@pulsecodemodulated]

I never wanted a bird, but then my housemate rescued a baby disco chicken while working on a building site in Melbourne. Pure adorable chaos.

[@pollyparrot9447]

Their camouflage power amazes me considering how colourful they are. I've heard a dozen of them screeching in a eucalypt without being able to spot one unless it flies away from the tree for a bit.

[@64Pete]

My lori is my best mate. Except when he isn't. He's an excellent mimic, I'm training him to whistle the Italian national anthem. He makes me laugh so much he has copied my laugh perfectly. He also swears like a fkn sailor.

[@AV-sl9wg]

The lori our son and daughter in law has likes to copy the tune of the Mexican hat dance.

[@RobertBrusOfficial]

That was awesome!

[@footyanimator]

I can honestly say that these videos are the best thing I’ve found on KZbin

[@peg7973]

Also, with the seed feeding, it eventually wears down the little bristles on their tongue which is essential for their necatarious lifestyle. So just thought I'd pop that in. I had a rescue lorrie. She had a bed tent on top of her cage. When she was ready for bed she would wait at the entrance for me to come and make sure she was tucked in. Then she would lay down and go to sleep all night until her outside gang came early again the next morning. I miss you Groggy xx

[@hadgeron9556]

I’ve seen rainbow lorikeets fight everything from king parrots to even sulphur crested cockatoos, they have short bird syndrome and will fight things many times their size, or screech loudly at them I guess

[@ectoplasmicz]

Yesssss rainbows lets go! My best friend is a rescue rainbow, evil loud abusive angel and i love her.

[@kchsc]

the OneyPlays reference was a nice touch

[@EikoandMog]

My dad and I used to feed a pair slices of apples when they kept coming around. Only used to feed them if we were home and they'd only really show up when it rained. Ended up being cool enough with us to jump on my shoulder and we'd always see their babies.

[@user-gz9sy8rh6f]

They are vicious! All birds fl😮y swiftly out of their way!

[@_Jade_Stone]

🦜 thank you 🙏🏼

[@Peleski]

Rainbow Lorikeets are a recurring symbol used in the Sydney G&L Mardi Gras (go figure). Yes they may be pesky, but they really brighten up your day when you see one. I can attest that I never saw any in Sydney until the 80s. There was a big fire in the National Park and the birds flew into the city. I'm glad we planted so many nectar natives (less happy about the Noisy Miners though, and no more sparrows).

[@splanting]

that's so true they do brighten up my morning on the way to work, I always see a flock hiding in a neighbour's camellia hedge

[@theSam91]

They are the star attraction since I put a bird bath in the front yard. Their behaviour and interactions with each other is so hilariously funny to watch.

[@harryp6997]

Umbrella tree nectar gets them drunk. I know it's probably not good for them, but drunken lorikeet brawls are hilarious.

[@superbettynow]

'Sky high tie-dies' - beautiful!

[@TheAbeKane]

Another fun vid bro. There's a local Lori flock of 50 odd, that fly over my house every afternoon. When the setting sun hits them their colours come alive and it's so beautiful to watch...bit bloody noisy though lol

[@romeoC9968]

Some of these birds called our fig tree home for the past 10 years, and last year when it didn't produce any fruit they discovered our plum tree....if they ate the hole fruit we wouldn't mind but one or two bites was enough from each....hundreds of fruit wasted.....and the nets never stopped them. We had to get rid of the fig tree a few weeks ago, they've moved to the tree opposite our house but they scream every morning, almost sounding angry they we had to get rid of the tree.

[@Peleski]

ugh, what pesky birds.... I can't imagine what fruit growers have to do

[@_vibin_high]

We call them The Street Tuffs - they bully literally EVERY bird in our back yard.

[@devilisdutch]

The puns and analogies are excellent and genuinely informative. I love these, please keep it up.

[@JohnGardnerAlhadis]

"Botched Warhammer paint job" was absolutely on-point. 👌

[@UncleJoeLITE]

My local lorikeets came daily for their [hand feeding] at Surfers [table cleaned daily]. Here in Canberra we have more cockatoos & galahs. The feeding hierarchy in Surfers was 1. Lorikeets, 2. Wattle birds, 3. Noisy Miners, 4. the Peewee lol.

[@MozillaVulpix]

I love your sense of humour in these videos.

[@haroldharold2836]

Wow. That “soory bru “ was spot on 😑

[@mollyeverglade3655]

I absolutely love our continent's gaggle of feathered chaos demons and the Rainbow Lorikeet is no exception. I actually like waking up to their cacophony in the morning.

[@abbeycat6425]

The alarm clock of late winter. When our bottle brush flowers, which is just outside our bedroom window here in Melbourne, it attracts the lorikeets and the noisy miners. They squabble continuously. The noisy miners are recent addition to our garden and they’ve chased away the wattle birds which is a bit sad. But they chase the cat which is quite amusing. We always know when the cat is coming up the path and about to enter the building because of the noise! We also have an apple tree that the lorikeets have invaded. They half eat an apple then move onto the next one. I don’t mind though. They are full of character.

[@DangerAngelous]

I meet one up close in a tree the other week, very kindly let me take really close up pictures of him!

[@scruncheduppaper4828]

oh god, rainbow lorikeets are sooo loud. in certain urban places there will be only a couple of gum trees where they gather and even standing NEAR THEM is enough to make your ears hurt. you can't even see any of them because they camoflage so well, even though judging by the sound of it there must be hundreds! love these birds though, they're very sociable and don't seem to be as scared of people as some others are.

[@ByHerHand]

No ending of you sitting on a log, chucking a spready? That was the best bit! 😉

[@shannonpincombe8485]

Their plummage looks amazing under black light. Most birda and flowers ahve a difderent colour when on Ultra Violet and Infra Red. Insects, in particular, see the world so differently from us. I wish had tetrachromatic vision. That would be wild!! Damn fine video pal.

[@tjf5148]

How do you know you're watching an Australian news report? Rainbow Lorikeets screeching in the background. Never noticed? Now you will!!!

[@ashleysmith3106]

Just come in from watering my garden under a cacophony of NOISE from the blooming Lillli Pilli next door, full of Rainbows !

[@katem3961]

Hi from Perth Western Australia, aka Alaska 🤣 Absolutely love your vids ❤ I have a lot of birds visiting my yard but only see the lorikeets flying overhead and in the park behind my house in very small numbers. Though we do have a real issue with corellas in our area. Boy, are these guys super noisy and can be destructive! They fly over every morning and evening in huge numbers as they tend to congregate at the nearby Jandakot airport, causing havoc I would imagine due to the huge flock sizes and small aircraft. I love the 28, Ringneck, but have not seen any near my suburb of Perth. Great information presented with very clever wit. Keep up the fabulous content. Thank you 💗

[@lyallfurphy]

They’re an introduced invasive species in Perth and responsible for displacing Twenty Eights :’(

[@RAAFtiger]

Love the use of Zachs scream hahaha

[@NewFalconerRecords]

Beautiful mongrels.

[@DuringDark]

6:30 for anyone concerned the paralysis syndrome isn't terminal, I teared up on the first watch seeing some snuggled up "smiley" little guys who may never fly or see their partner again

[@connordarvall8482]

I love how we just accept that we live with a bunch of screeching Windows 7 logos in our trees.

[@the-Backyard-Naturalist]

Best bird, best operating system, it checks out

[@NicolasEricson-hf3rf]

Love your commentary bro. Super descriptive ,👍

[@Zar2244]

I love seeing the Lorikeets in the yard, no bird should be a pet, unless it has been unable to fly. Sad to see people sellng them on Gumtree.

[@quinnwatson5009]

God I love this channel

[@clayalbatross496]

When it comes to their status in New Zealand, Rainbow Lorikeets did indeed establish a population here, namely in Auckland if I remember correctly. The population was unfortunately exterminated though, which is due to legit worry that they could have become yet another invasive species to add to the list, and that they were seen as likely vectors of certain parrot specific diseases that could threaten our native parrots. As lovely as lorikeets are, it is perhaps for the best that they never establish here (though it would be awesome if we had a native lorikeet!). Eastern Rosellas are a widespread introduced species in NZ's North Island though, and also have a separate population around the city of Dunedin in the South Island. The classic Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo also has some feral populations here and there in NZ, plus Galahs have feral populations on some of the islands near-ish to Auckland.

[@SOUTHAUSSIEGUY]

Love these guys on my block in the Adelaide Hills _ P.S, that beer with the pie floater should be a South Aussie Coopers Ale!

[@mnj640]

We didn't have them till about 30 years ago in SA. Now we also have fruit bats.

[@Enthusiastic-Trainspotter-BNE]

Being as a Queenslander myself, I genuinely was unaware that these lorikeets in our state are getting left paralysed.💔😢😭

[@PistachioDean]

I was interested in the evolution of their colouring, and apparently it's a form of "mosaic evolution." Their colouring evolved at different points and independently of each other. So the green is for camouflage (I think this is their OG colour), and the other colours help identify their species amongst other lorikeets. Some of their colours are invisible to humans, and all their markings make up 1/3 of colours birds can see.

[@kredonystus7768]

You should do one on our most dangerous spiders because most people don't realise it's more likely for you to die from being struck by lightning this year than to die from a spider bite.

[@Kayenne54]

That's weird. Just saw a vid on YT today, and the guy was struck by lightning through his kitchen window. Don't touch the taps, the fridge, the shower taps, the metal on the windows. There's nowhere to hide from lightning anymore....

[@garrywatters1140]

In the NT there is a variety called the red collared lorikeet.

[@jasone830]

How could you omit that just like they typical Aussie, they get drunk off fermented fruit! What a missed opportunity! 😅🍹

[@blakearius]

I crashed my car leaving the handbreak off last month trying to save a lorikeet stuck in the middle of the road, couldn't fly away. It's nice to get an answer for why it couldn't get away.

[@Survivor-gu8gc]

I paused the video while on a walk and was confused when the bird noises continued

[@JAB6322]

HONEY WAKE UP NEW BACKYARD NATURALIST VIDEO HAS DROPPED 👀👀👀

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

Have I read this one before 🤔 Maybe I am thinking of Primitive Technology... Regardless I love it😂

[@jonnowood8382]

I subbed purely because you said they were rarer than eshay with a valid train ticket. Gold!

[@juanitaschlink2028]

Man, love your vids. I live in Sydney and am familiar with most of the animals you spotlight, but always manage to learn something from you. Keep it up you little legend. Xx

[@laurapianezzola3934]

One bedroom unit with water boarding facilities. Sign me up.

[@CasualFehPlayer-rf6sl]

I used to love these birds as a kid what with the colours and all but now there just meh I work outside a lot so I tend to see and hear them everywhere. One thing I didn’t realise until I was older was that they weren’t the sweet little birbs I thought they were but actually nectar induced psychos that bully and bite and fight anyone and anything including themselves. Great vid as always.👍🏼

[@avocadoarms358]

If your actually from australia, you know that you see more of the introduced Indian minor bird than any other bird

[@ianking-jv4hg]

Lorries love getting drunk. Dew and rain collects in the throat of some flowers and ferments the nectar and you can see these crazy little bastards getting pissed and arguing the point with each other. i love 'em

[@continental_drift]

I came here say just what you said but I didn't know the mechanism, thanks.

[@stephengodfrey5644]

Hello i live in Broome North Western Australia and as summer approaches every year and the fruit of the mango trees ripen you find lorikeets chattering in the mango trees.

[@Darkinu2]

We had some perch on our old house's balcony and we called them Heckle and Jeckle, no idea why~

[@mattmaria2226]

Coor mate.. yous forgot to add they're pissheads and can be found blacked out in your local park after down'n a few steamy fermented dates.. not an unknown practice amoung the more colourful crowd.. especially in some of the inner city parks😊

[@moebius2k103]

They also love to flock in a single tree at shopping centre car parks and rain down shit on any car under that tree. All while their deafening shreeks pierce everyones ear holes like tiny daggers.

[@rubenmontero4813]

“As rare an eschay valid train ticket “ 😂

[@seshjuan42069]

as someone who lives on a pretty big lot of land with native trees in it, i can confirm that Lorikeets scare the shit out of the magpies in my yard just by walking up to them.

[@jsmit1101js]

Love the video! Autistic person whose special interest is birds here, be careful using the term lory and lorikeet interchangeably, because they dare different species/subspecies of bird. Their common family is Loriini but lories and lorikeets are different subspecies of honeyeaters in the Loriini taxonomy/family. In behaviour they are basically the same, loud, trouble making jokesters with a pension for property damage. I happen to have a black capped lory myself (Lorius.L.lory if anyone is interested) however here are some fun facts of how they are different to one another as they are different types of bird! Lorikeets are generally a lot smaller around 75-150ish grams depending on locality and species, they also have long thin tails and shorter more rounded beaks. While lories clock in at around 200-280ish grams (which is a lot bigger when it comes to avian species as they are very light to begin with) similar in size to a small galah. They are also a lot rounder bodied, have very shot and stubby squared off tail and more elongated beaks. As far as I am aware, however I could be wrong, lories are only found in New Guinea/Indonesia and the adjacent islands. Whereas lorikeets are found in many different places, including Australia, partially because they are much better suited for longer flights, where lories tend to rely a lot of jumping branch to branch if that is a option. As a bird nerd just thought I would through some commonly overlooked information everyone’s way! If you want any other facts about these guys or really any other species of parrot/bird I will be happy to chat, I have raised, rehabilitated or obsessed over many species of bird and would be happy to reply to anyones questions to the best of my ability! Last note, don’t get them as pets, they are even worse to keep then parrots and parrots make bad enough pets (coming from someone who owns both) you need to dedicate your life to them and they will still bite you, cost you thousands and brake your ears and your house. If you want a parrot, you most likely don’t, you actually want a pigeon. They are domesticated and are a much better option so I encourage you to look into them first!

[@JamesLilzz]

Keep up the great work! Love your videos and sense of humour. Amazing that you have a platform to promote Australian Natives ❤️ sugar gliders next please

[@leekarssen]

I had a pet one as a child in the 90’s. I swear he thought he was human 😂

[@madmadimadison7542]

Best one yet! And informative! I'm defs not gonna build that bird feeder now 😱

[@maddybelo]

Keep ‘em coming. This series can’t end.