Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Galah x Little Corella

probable Galah x Little Corella hybrid, location not given (Western Australia), 28th June 2008 - copyright Mark Coates
(photo ID: 2108)


It may not be possible to determine from the photo which species of Corella was involved with this hybrid.  One person suggested Little Corella but without providing rationale.  Mark now informs us that this bird was with a flock of about 1000 Litlle Corellas which seems quite good circumstantial evidence in support of Little Corella involvement, though it may well be that a Galah x Western Corella hybrid would look extremely close to this.

 
Galah Eulophos roseicapilla
Western Corella Cacatua pastinator
Little Corella Cacatua sangunea
at

8 comments:

  1. Silversea Starsong31 October 2015 at 16:32

    Wow, what an awesome bird.

    So in WA there is both little corella as well as western corella (a split from long-billed corella). These two birds are pretty much identical except in the amount of red on the front of the bird, and the length of the "hook" on the upper mandible (hence long-billed corella).

    The only way to separate a bird like this would be a clear picture of the bill that isn't hidden, so we can analyze the bill better. Maybe western corella does not occur in the part of WA this was taken though?

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  2. Dave Appleton5 December 2015 at 22:21

    Thanks for this (and sorry for the delay). I can't add much but maybe someone else might be able to comment on the status of Western Corella here.

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  3. Anonymous29 April 2016 at 14:29

    It was with a flock of over 1000 little Correllas
    Mark Coates

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  4. Anonymous29 April 2016 at 14:32

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/gm_coates/2617545481/
    and
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/gm_coates/2617194775

    Mark Coates

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  5. Dave Appleton29 April 2016 at 16:12

    Thanks Mark - I guess that's quite strong circumstantial evidence that Little Corella is the Corella species involved. I think I'll upgrade the "possible" qualifier to "probable".

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  6. Unknown21 September 2019 at 10:22

    We have both pink and grey galas and corellas in our area and recently saw one of these in the flock of pink and greys at a neighbours which got us asking questions..your info on the hybrid species has really helped so thanks 😊

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  7. Unknown6 June 2020 at 09:18

    do they breed naturly in the wild and are they sturil

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  8. Unknown24 February 2021 at 08:41

    I have one and he is a little corella cross galah.

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