Galah

Galah

Description

The galah is a medium-sized cockatoo with unmistakable colouring: a deep rose-pink breast and underparts contrast with an ashy-grey back and wings and a pale pink, erectable crest. It grows to about 35 cm and weighs roughly 270–350 g. The sexes can be told apart by eye colour — males have a dark brown to almost black iris, while the females' eyes are pinkish red.

Habitat

It is found across virtually all of Australia, inhabiting open country, grassy plains, savanna, farmland and even city parks. Land clearing and the spread of crops and watering points have let it expand its range dramatically over the past century, and it is now one of Australia's most abundant parrots.

Diet

It feeds mainly on the seeds of grasses and herbs, together with grain and buds, foraging chiefly on the ground. In farming country it gathers in large flocks on sown fields, where it is often regarded as a pest.

Reproduction

It nests in tree hollows, which the pair lines with leaves. The female usually lays two to five white eggs, and both parents take turns incubating them for about 25 days. The chicks leave the nest after roughly seven to eight weeks.

Lifespan

In the wild it lives around 20–25 years, while in human care it commonly reaches 40 years or more, exceptionally over 70.

Did you know?

Galahs are extremely playful and sociable — they often hang upside down, slide along wires and perform wild aerial acrobatics during storms. In Australian slang the word "galah" even means a fool or a clown.