Orange Bird Society president Tony Ford said there were 7000 birds at the sale.

"Some drove down from Cairns," he said, noting others had made the trip all the way from Western Australia.

"With the drought and the floods and the fires, I wasn't sure what was going to happen this year, but it hasn't affected anything."

Birds were priced according to their rarity in Australia - hand reared Australian parrots commanded prices in the hundreds, while macaws fetched about $3000 each.

Matt Orr and his uncle brought several Indian ring neck parrots, with the blue-green opaline varieties selling between $4000 and $8000.

"Obviously the opalines have the nice strong colour, but they're just easy birds," he said.

At the top of the price range were the Amazons, commanding anywhere between $5000 and $15,000 each - while many other birds can breed by the time they reach three, Amazons must be five.

Dylan Levoi, who breeds them with his father, said owners needed to keep a careful eye on Amazons because males could be aggressive.

"They can kill the females," he said.

"But I can't get enough of breeding - finding babies in the nest is so rewarding."