Crimson Chatter

Pastels on Pastelmat Board ($POA)

Image size 44cm h x 60cm w

Crimson Rosellas (Platycercus elegans) are found across coastal and mountain forests, woodlands, and eucalypt forests in eastern and southeastern Australia. Platycercus means “broad-tailed” aptly describing their wide tails. Males and females look almost identical, with a unique scalloped pattern on their backs. Active during the day, they travel in pairs or small family groups. Their lifespan is 15 to 20 years in the wild, usually choosing a single mate for life, raising their chicks inside deep tree hollows.
Unlike other raucous parrots, they make sweet whistling and chattering sounds, as if being conspiratorial. My composition was created to highlight this.