Cockatoo

Cockatoos are the 22 species of parrots in the family Cacatuidae, native to Australasia from the Philippines and eastern Indonesian islands to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia. They are recognised by prominent crests and curved bills, and their plumage is generally white, grey or black, often with coloured features in the crest, cheeks or tail. They eat seeds, tubers, corms, fruit, flowers and insects, often feeding in large flocks when on the ground. Monogamous, they nest in tree hollows. Some species have suffered from a shortage of suitable hollows after large trees are cleared, while others have adapted to human changes and are considered agricultural pests.

About the cockatoo

A cockatoo is any of the crested parrots in the family Cacatuidae, a group of about 21 or 22 species that includes the white cockatoos, the black cockatoos, the galah and the cockatiel. They are native to Australia and nearby islands, from the Philippines and eastern Indonesia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

The name comes from the Dutch kaketoe, which in turn came from the Malay kakatua, and it has been used in English since the 17th century. Cockatoos split from the other parrots early in parrot history, after only the New Zealand parrots, and today form their own superfamily alongside the true parrots and the New Zealand parrots.

The easiest way to recognize a cockatoo is the crest. Every species has a movable crest of feathers on the head, which it raises when landing or when excited, and in many species it is spectacular. Cockatoos also share the classic parrot features: a curved bill and feet with two toes pointing forward and two back.

Their colors are more muted than those of other parrots. Most species are white, gray or black, often with patches of yellow, pink or red on the crest, cheeks or tail. Cockatoos lack the feather structure that produces the bright blues and greens of true parrots. The galah and the pink cockatoo are more broadly pink, and several species have a patch of bright bare skin around the eye.

On average they are bigger than other parrots. Most are stocky birds 30–60 cm (12–24 in) long and weighing 300–1,200 g (0.66–2.65 lb), while the cockatiel, the smallest member of the family, weighs only 80–100 g (2.8–3.5 oz). Among the true white cockatoos of the genus Cacatua are the umbrella cockatoo, also called the white cockatoo, and the salmon-crested or Moluccan cockatoo. White cockatoos are kept in captivity more often than black ones.

The big bill is a precision tool. A muscular tongue holds seeds in place while the lower jaw presses them against the upper jaw, which acts like an anvil, and the bird keeps the bill sharp by grinding its jaws together at rest.

Behavior and diet

Cockatoos are diurnal and highly social. They wait until the sun has warmed their roost before setting out, then travel, feed and roost in noisy flocks. In good times flocks may number a hundred birds or fewer, but in drought they can swell into the thousands; one flock of little corellas in the Kimberley region of Australia numbered 32,000.

Seeds are the core of the diet for every species, cracked open with the powerful bill. Galahs, corellas and some black cockatoos feed mainly on the ground, while others feed in trees, prying seeds out of tough cones and gumnuts that smaller animals cannot open. Some are specialists. The glossy black cockatoo feeds on the cones of Allocasuarina trees, and the yellow-tailed black cockatoo eats mostly insects, digging grubs out of rotting wood. Most cockatoos are left-footed, with 87–100 percent of birds in most species holding food in the left foot.

Their calls are loud and harsh, used to recognize each other, warn of predators and keep flocks together. Palm cockatoos go further, drumming on dead branches with a stick to communicate over long distances. Cockatoos are also clever learners. In New South Wales, the skill of flipping open garbage bin lids spread from bird to bird and suburb to suburb, and Tanimbar corellas have solved complex mechanical puzzles in tests.

Cockatoos are monogamous, and pair bonds can last many years. Females first breed at three to seven years old. Like most parrots they nest in tree hollows, but they cannot dig their own, so they depend on old trees where branches have broken or wood has decayed. Clutches range from a single egg in the palm cockatoo to as many as eight in smaller species, and incubation takes from about 20 days in the cockatiel to 29 days in Carnaby's black cockatoo. Young of some species stay with their parents for up to a year.

Range and habitat

Cockatoos have a much smaller range than other parrots. They live naturally only in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and some Pacific islands. Eleven species are found in the wild only in Australia, seven only on the islands of the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and three in both New Guinea and Australia. Some species, like the galah, cover most of Australia, while others are confined to a single small area, such as the Tanimbar corella of Indonesia's Tanimbar Islands.

They occupy a wide range of habitats, from subalpine forest to mangroves. Widespread open-country species such as the galah and cockatiel are fast, nomadic flyers that follow grass seed across inland Australia. Forest species such as the glossy black cockatoo tend to stay put, because their food supply is steadier. Several species have adapted to farmland and even busy cities, where some are now considered pests.

Cockatoo vs cockatiel

The cockatiel is a cockatoo too, the smallest member of the family and one of the earliest branches of its family tree. It is the species most often kept as a pet, and it differs from its larger relatives in several ways.

Conservation status

Cockatoos as a family have no single IUCN status. Seven species are considered vulnerable or worse and one is near-threatened. Two, the red-vented cockatoo and the yellow-crested cockatoo, are critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

The main threats are habitat loss and the wildlife trade. Every cockatoo needs tree hollows to nest, so clearing large old trees hits them hard, and many species live on small islands with naturally tiny ranges. Trapping for the pet trade has also taken a toll: between 1983 and 1990, 66,654 salmon-crested cockatoos were recorded as exported from Indonesia, not counting illegal and domestic trade.

All cockatoos except the cockatiel are protected under CITES. Five species, including the Moluccan cockatoo, the palm cockatoo and the Tanimbar corella, are on Appendix I, the strictest level. Meanwhile, open-country species such as the galah and sulphur-crested cockatoo have boomed with farming in Australia, where they are sometimes treated as agricultural pests.