A seven-year-old boy singing the praises of his favourite bird, the eastern rosella, has become an internet sensation.
When Miles Phillips decided to write a song about the beautiful bird that had landed on the deck of a holiday resort he had no idea that a video of him performing the catchy tune would garner close to two million views on social media. It has also been played on several radio stations and been compared to the work of Taylor Swift and the Ramones.
It all started off when Miles was on holiday and feeding the birds on the veranda of the holiday unit. One bird arrived that was special – the eastern rosella – and Miles said he was bowled over by its shimmering colours of white, crimson, yellow and green.
Miles, who lives in Sydney and was on holiday in the Gippsland Lakes region of Victoria, felt compelled to compose his song, which his father then recorded.
“There were pigeons, there were lorikeets, there were rosellas, but the one bird, the main bird that stood out to me was definitely the eastern rosella,” said Miles.
The chorus came to him in that moment: “Eastern rosellas, eastern rosellas, look at the beautiful colours.”
He said his songwriting started with the chorus. “Then the verse, then the bridge, and yeah. It starts off with a little idea that I just have, and then I think of bigger ones, and then I get bigger ones until I’m happy with it.”
As Miles will attest, the eastern rosella is one of the most beautiful birds in Australia. It is common across the south-east and can easily be spotted in the suburbs surrounding Hobart.
It prefers drier areas, like the scattered white-gum woodland of the Queens Domain and is generally replaced by the endemic green rosella in the wetter forests, especially in the foothills of kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
Miles, along with his three siblings, has been encouraged by his parents to develop interests away from television and the computer screen.
Ironically, platforms like TikTok and Instagram have played a major role in driving interest in birding among children, teenagers and young adults. Social media makes it easy to share photos, videos and sightings as well as connect with fellow birders.
And it appears an interest in birding his spreading fast in not only Australia, but Britain and the United States. From Britain, it is reported that birdwatching has become the second fastest growing hobby for Generation Z after jewellery making. There, almost 750,000 Gen-Zers – 16 to 29-year-olds – regularly enjoy watching birds, a survey by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has revealed.
Birding in early years has been found to be a valuable activity that extends learning beyond four walls. It allows children, teenagers and young adults to explore nature and develop a lifelong love for wildlife and the environment.