#CRESTED COCKATOO HOW TO#

They ruffle their feathers, raise their crest, extend their wings and then jump about. During breeding season males court females with a physical display. These cockatoos are social birds and can form strong bonds with each other. The raising and lowering of this crest can be used as a method of communication between individuals or in a show of aggression or defence to make the bird appear larger. The main colour of their plumage is white with a yellow crest on their head which can be retracted to lay flat against their head or flared. They also have one of the longest lifespans of all cockatoos living to 40 years on average in the wild and in captivity they have been known to reach 100 years or more. It is one of the larger cockatoo species reaching around 50 centimetres from beak to tail and weighing in around 780 grams. They prefer to live in tropical and subtropical rainforests but they also now frequent urban areas. The sulphur-crested cockatoo is native to Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia and New-Zealand and there are four different sub-species across these regions. Although they are not what you would call a song bird, these cockatoos like most have a loud screeching call and when all members in a flock, which can number in the hundreds, join in a call the sound can be deafening and definitely not pleasant. They are also quite curious, observant and have an emotional intelligence which allows them to form strong bonds with each other and even humans, this makes them quite popular as pets.

#CRESTED COCKATOO HOW TO#

This intelligence has enabled the sulphur-crested cockatoo to adapt quite well to humans and life in towns and cities, they have been spotted learning how to open bins and even turn on water fountains to get a drink. They, like a lot of parrots, also have the ability to â€œtalkâ€ by mimicking the sounds made by humans, other animals and even machinery. Their bird brains are capable of complex processing and are therefore quite skilled at problem solving and learning. These birds are thought to have a level of intelligence comparable to that of a chimpanzee. Something that cockatoos do have in common with other parrots is their intelligence. However most cockatoos are the opposite of this with the bulk of their plumage being one colour, usually white, black or grey. When people think of parrots, images of brightly coloured birds like macaws come to mind. There are 21 different species of cockatoo and they have a largely Australasian distribution being found from the Philippines all the way down to Australia. The sulphur crested cockatoo is a large member of the cockatoo family which falls under the parrot group.

Crested cockatoo