How many corellas? Count the legs and divide by two
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325594)
Rockingham, Australia
June 7, 2016 8:04am CST
On our trip north to Paynes Find in Western Australia, we stopped at Wubin to fuel up our bus/motorhome. There is a big parking area there where 'double' road-trains can hook up to another trailer and become 'triple' road-trains. The maximum length for a triple is 53.5 metres which is 58.5 yards. These can VERY long and a bit intimidating whatever other vehicle you happen to be driving.
Wubin is only a small town but I stepped out of the bus to a cacophony of noise. I've recently written about Western Australia's black cockatoos and how raucous they can be. In Wubin, the noise was coming from dozens of white cockatoos or what we know as corellas.
There are six species of corella which is a subgenus Licmetis in the genus Cacatua. Only three of the species are found in Australia. They are relatively small with pale bills and some red to the face.
They flew overhead in a great swathe of white before settling in a tree near the roadhouse. I didn't attempt to count them. But there were a lot!
18 people like this
19 responses
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
7 Jun 16
@ElizabethWallace Just that we saw what we were expecting to see
4 people like this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
7 Jun 16
@jaboUK or should have gone to specsavers...lol's (only kidding)
3 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
7 Jun 16
Me too. What does that say about us?
3 people like this
@MarymargII (12422)
• Toronto, Ontario
7 Jun 16
How exotic is that Judy! Cockatoos flying around- never in Canada- and when I first viewed the pic above I thought it was flowers.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325594)
• Rockingham, Australia
15 Jun 16
@MarymargII Exactly. I think one day they might need to cull some of them at least.
1 person likes this
@MarymargII (12422)
• Toronto, Ontario
14 Jun 16
@JudyEv Wow that is a shame- and then no one knows what to do about an ensuing problem- in Canada we have the Canada goose that seems to be everywhere- especially by the lakes where they can take over. What to do? As they don't want to kill them.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325594)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Jun 16
Yes, there are better things to do aren't there, than to try to count them.
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
7 Jun 16
I thought that was white leaves, and then was like holy cow that's birds!!!
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39515)
• United States
7 Jun 16
holy flyin' cowpatties! yepperz, that'd be a whole herd'f 'em, lol. what a beautiful (though no doubt loud) sight to behold. such'd jest take my breathe 'way :D
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
7 Jun 16
Wow...I bet that was noisy.... and possibly a bit messy ... but nice to see...
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
7 Jun 16
Now, this is funny. When I first looked at your photo, I thought those things on the tree were flowers. It took reading your post, then looking again to see that they are birds.
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@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
8 Jun 16
@JudyEv Our minds see what they expect to see.
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@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
7 Jun 16
Oh, those are birds. I thought they were leaves.
1 person likes this
@eliza_godinez12 (5567)
• Philippines
7 Jun 16
Oh! I thought it's just a tree leaves...so nice
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325594)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Jun 16
I'm glad you like it. I have one of them in flight too so I'll put that up in the slideshow.
@acelawrites (19273)
• Philippines
7 Jun 16
So nice to see them, so many of them. I thought they were white flowers of that tree.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
7 Jun 16
That tree is so crowded with those birds. At first glance you think it's white blossoms.
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