Once I harvested as many olives as I could process from our little front yard Olive Grove in Rosebud I left the rest for the birds. Previously I had not noticed many birds feeding on the olives. This year a number of species have enjoyed the late season fruit. I have seen Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Little Corellas, Silvereyes and now a pair of Crimson Rosellas. I was packing the back of my car only a few feet away and these guys just ignored me. The fruit is very ripe and starting to shrivel so must be quite edible even with their raw bitter flavour.
I have read that most parrots/cockatoos are left handed. The fellow below was right handed, grabbing and eating the olives using his right foot. It was windy at times and he did very well to hang on and feed at the same time.
Crimson Rosella, Rosebud, Victoria, 30 July 2017
II
The Gap Year and Beyond 
Malt, I enjoy black olives on my pizzas and ‘sub’* sandwiches. They’re supposed to be a healthy food. If I eat enough of them, will I have as colorful a plume as your birds? Incredible beauty in your own yard. Very nice.
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Thanks Steve, They are beautiful birds and in the forest quite nervous and hard to get close to, but when feeding they seem quite approachable. Though they got a bit more nervous when I got the camera out and eventually flew off. Happy to watch me pack the car 6 feet away but skittish when I started to focus on them.
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How lovely to have your own olive grove Malt! I love olives also, so I agree with the birds, but I have to say when I was at a winery in the Swan Valley visiting my son, I tried eating one off the tree, and that is something I will never do again:-)
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no not good eating when raw but great when processed for a while in brine. The birds seem to like them when over ripe, maybe the extra ripeness makes them palatable to birds.
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Now that’s something I certainly don’t see everyday — an ab-so-tively gorgeous bird. Eating olives! Who’da thunk. 🙂
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