Pale-headed Rosella at Yanda Campground

In August 2024 we camped for a few days at Yanda Campground below Bourke on the Darling River in the Gundabooka National Park. At the time there had been good local rains and the campground and surrounding area was clothed in lush verdant green annual forbs and gasses. In this arid region conditions like this are the exception with dry bare ground more normal as shown in the following screen shot satellite image of the area from Google Maps. 

Floods in the Darling River will also bring a flush of green but only to the area of inundation which does not include the higher areas where the campground is located. This was the case when we were there again in July 2025. A recent flood down the Darling had triggered a flush of green growth up to the flood line but above there it was dry and barren bare earth, the verdant green of August the previous year long gone. The flood had triggered a massive outbreak of lerp on the fresh new leaves of the River Redgums where honeyeaters, Spiny-cheeked, White-plumed, White-fronted and Singing, were hyperactive, gleaning sugar which was almost dripping from the leaves.

In August 2024 we found a pair of Pale-headed Rosellas at the campground which were attracted beyond the normal limit of their south westerly range by the rare bounty of short lived seeds.

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At times the bird was hidden from my sight and from the camera, by the lush vegetation in which it was feeding.

All of the rosella (Platycercus) genus are spectacularly beautiful including the Pale-headed Rosella. The following shots of the feeding bird at Yanda show just how brilliant their feather colours are.

The bird looked to be feeding exclusively on a very prickly looking green seed from (I think), Medicago polymorpha. Common names include Trefoil, Toothed Medic, Burr Clover etc. While green, the seed spines are soft, however when they dry out and stiffen they can make camping and walking around in bare feet a painful experience.

Our experience at Yanda shows just how variable conditions are in outback arid Australia and how many bird species move in response to the boom and bust extremes of food supplies.