Colorful and captivating are just two words that describe lorikeets. Their antics are entertaining to watch, which makes them a fun bird to have around. If you don’t have a garden, don’t worry, because, in a few simple steps, you can attract lorikeets to your balcony.
A simple tip on how to attract lorikeets to your balcony is to provide nectar-rich plants for them. Or use soluble powdered nectar as an alternative. Lorikeets also need plenty of drinking and bathing water. To keep them hanging around, provide brightly colored and noisy toys and perches.
So, no surprise, that the key to attracting lorikeets to your balcony is food and water. But, you need to provide the right food, and if you want to keep them hanging around, the right environment will also help. You can learn more about this and get other tips below.
1. Put Nectar-rich Plants on Your Balcony
Lorikeets are unlike most other birds in that they don’t eat seeds and grains. Indeed, seeds and grains can be harmful to their tongue and beak. They use the brush-like tip of their tongues to probe deep into flowering plants to extract pollen and nectar.
The following video shows the lorikeet’s tongue in action:
In their native Australia, common plants that lorikeets use as sources of nectar are bottlebrush and grevilleas. Banksia is another favorite. Filling your balcony with such plants is an excellent way to attract lorikeets to it. All these plants are wonderfully colorful. So, you’ll also have a pleasing environment for yourself.
As you can see from the following video, lorikeets are natural acrobats, so they’re comfortable hanging upside down to reach the flowers or perching upright.
2. Add Bowls of Nectar and Fruits to Your Balcony
So, what if your climate conditions aren’t conducive to growing such plants on your balcony? Don’t worry; you can still provide food to attract lorikeets.
You can buy powdered nectar that you mix with water, such as Quiko Lori – Complete Food for Nectar Eating Birds. Lorikeets can also feed on the powdered form, provided you put out water for them to sup along with it.
You can put the mix in a bowl as the lorikeets can use their tongues to dip into the bowl to capture the liquid mix. This is shown in the following video:
Lorikeets will also thrive on fresh fruits like bananas, sweet apples, and melons. Even if you provide nectar-rich plants or a nectar mix, it’s good to add fresh fruits. This will replicate the type of variation that lorikeets might get in the wild.
Chop the fruits into small pieces to make them easy for the lorikeets to eat. That way, you’ll have less waste in the form of half-eaten fresh fruits lying around. Lorikeets also enjoy feeding on blossoms and flower buds. So, placing a variety of flowering plants on your balcony is sure to go down well.
Lorikeets are also partial to turfgrass and weeds. So, try providing a tray of turfgrass with some garden weeds scattered on it. It’ll add to the variety of foods you can offer to make your balcony more appealing.
A small number of chopped vegetables are also attractive to lorikeets. There are many you can offer them, including broccoli and brussels sprouts.
3. Keep Feeding Time Exciting With Foraging Feeders
Foraging feeders are also an excellent way to provide lorikeets with stimulation. It gives them a chance to use their natural foraging instincts when feeding. So, instead of putting chopped fresh fruit in a bowl, you can put it in a foraging feeder for the lorikeets to clamber on.
An example is something like this Hanging Treat Foraging Box. You can hang it on a small tree if you have one, or from a balcony wall.
If you don’t want to hang anything, you can get something for your balcony floor or table. For example, there’s this puzzle-box type, Wooden Bird Foraging Feeder Box. It’s ideal for providing stimulation to your visiting lorikeets.
4. Provide a Source of Fresh Water
Like most birds, water is an essential part of a lorikeets diet. So, adding fresh water to your balcony is bound to attract them. You can either use a bowl or treat yourself and the lorikeets to a small water feature such as a small fountain. The sound isn’t only pleasant to humans but also lorikeets. Make sure to keep the drinking water fresh by changing it out at regular intervals.
5. Provide a Birdbath
Besides providing drinking water, another excellent way to attract lorikeets is with a birdbath.
You should keep drinking water and bathing water separately. A handy tip is to put the drinking water in a small bowl and use a large one for bathing water.
As you can see from this video, bath time for lorikeets can be a messy affair. You might want to put the bathing bowl in a larger tray to catch the water that they splash around.
6. Provide Lots of Colorful and Noisy Bird Toys
Lorikeets are inquisitive and intelligent birds and need stimulation to keep them from getting bored.
Brightly colored chew toys are one way to attract lorikeets to your balcony and to keep them there for a while. Chewing toys not only keep lorikeets entertained but also provide a good workout for their beaks.
It’s even better if the toys you provide make sounds. For example, the toys in this SHANTU Bird Chewing Toys Pack have bells on them. Lorikeets will revel in the sounds these toys make.
A mixed pack like this is a good idea as lorikeets get bored quickly. So, providing a large variety of toys should keep them on your balcony for longer.
7. Provide Perches on Your Balcony
Providing different types of perches on your balcony will make it an interesting place for these energetic birds to visit. You can attach perches to your balcony walls, or hang them from the roof eaves or any overhang. The perch can be a simple flat surface like this Wood Platform Bird Perch.
Or use a stick-shaped piece of wood. You can buy this in a more elaborate form like this Litewood Parrot Perch Stand. Something like this adds color that will attract lorikeets.
The kind of perches you can buy are usually designed to attach to cages, so you may need to improvise to attach them to a wall. If you want something to put on the balcony floor or table, you can buy a play stand. An example is this Borangs Bird Playstand. It combines a variety of perches integrated into a single unit, plus some feeding bowls.
As lorikeets are sociable, you might need to provide several perches. Once you attract one lorikeet, you might expect more to follow.
8. Attach Nesting Boxes to Your Balcony
If you want to provide a more permanent stopping point for lorikeets, providing a nesting box is one way to do it.
In the wild, lorikeets nest in tree hollows, like the pair shown in this video:
Now, you probably won’t have a tree hollow conveniently located on your balcony. But, you can make a simple nesting box, as shown in this video:
As is apparent, it needs to be quite large and deep to accommodate lorikeets and replicate the inside of a tree hollow.
9. Keeps Your Pet Cat or Dog Away from Your Balcony
Attracting any birds to your balcony won’t be easy if you let your pet cat or dog out. So, make sure they’re kept inside whenever you put food out for the lorikeets. Otherwise, the lorikeets are unlikely to stay for long, and all your hard work in attracting them will be for nothing.
Conclusion
As you can see, attracting lorikeets to your balcony only takes a few simple steps. Food, water, and plants that they love are a sure-fire way to draw them in and keep them coming back for more.
