What next? Now it's budgie storms in Queensland flood areas

By Peter Morley
The Courier-Mail
October 27, 2009

RIGHT: A plague of budgies seen near Boulia / Picture: Ann Britton

SKIES around the far west Queensland town of Boulia are teeming with budgerigars.

This year's floods along river systems such as the Diamantina and Georgina sparked prolific breeding by the budgies which have been feasting on an abundance of grass seeds, the Courier-Mail reported.

"I have been here since 1983 and never seen anything like it," Boulia grazier Ann Britton said. "The skies are thick with budgies - how they do not collide with each other is a miracle in itself.

"My father, who has travelled extensively in the Outback, was with me when we saw a massive flock and said he would not have believed the size if he had not seen it with his own eyes."

Desert Channels Queensland spokesman Steve Wilson said the green budgerigars were "virtually everywhere" in "great big clouds that look like a bee swarm".

The birds "just seemed to turn up" after rain brought new life to the region and then began to breed."I was in Boulia where I saw 17 pairs nesting in a coolibah tree," he said. "

They like hollow logs but the need to breed is dominant and one budgie was sitting on four eggs on the ground."

Read more about the storm at the Courier-Mail.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26264581-13762,00.html

(Submitted by Pater Darben)