Mini portrait: Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, or today designated Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita galerita), is indeed a large and powerful bird of approximately 50 cm in length and a weight of almost 1 kg. When ordinary people around the world - not aviculturists - talk about Cockatoos, it is typically this iconic bird that they have in mind, this stately white Cockatoo with the impressive yellow pointed feather top from "the Land of Parrots", Australia.
Its distribution area includes the eastern and south eastern part of Australia, more specifically from northern Queensland south to Tasmania and south eastern South Australia, including Kangaroo Island. Besides, it is introduced to southwest Australia (a region in Western Australia) and New Zealand.
It is commonly found in Australia's low-lying open woodlands and savannas (including swamps and mangroves) and on agricultural land, and it is found up to 1,500 m in some parts of Australia. It is a noisy and very conspicuous bird, which is usually seen in pairs or small families during the breeding season, while outside the breeding season it can be found in flocks of several hundred individuals or even more. It can be a major nuisance in urbanized areas, just as its preference for cultivated crops often makes it a pest in the eyes of farmers.
Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo.
Photo from the internet.
This species forages on grasses and herbs, but it also happily eats sprouting maize and wheat. It also feeds on harmful weeds such as cotton thistle. Among other things the food also includes roots, nuts, berries, flowers, blossoms and insect larvae. Large groups of up to 2,000 birds can be seen feeding on the ground, with sentinel birds taking turns on lookout spots for predators. They are noisy, conspicuous and are most active immediately after dawn.
Mostly resident, but local movements have been noted between coastal Australian islands. The Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is faithful to roosting areas. During the breeding season (from May to September in the north and from August to January in the south) the hen lays 2 to 3 elliptical white eggs. The nest is a bed of wood chips in a tree hollow.
Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo.
Photo from the internet.
In human care, the Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is very rare, in fact it is extremely rarely seen among the European aviculturists. The different types of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos that are most often seen in captivity are the other - smaller - types (including subspecies) that - except for one subspecies - come from other parts of Oceania. At the time of writing, the Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is only found in 16 different European zoos and bird parks that have the status of a zoo, including Loro Parque on Tenerife (Spain).
The Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo’s intellect, active and curious nature, its powerful beak and great voice, make special demands for care, as is also known from several of the other large species of "white cockatoos". Particularly due to its intellect, it is very important that it is constantly stimulated and has access to uncontaminated, fresh natural branches and logs (from e.g. pine, fir, willow and alder) as well as fir cones in a large metal aviary of very strong construction, which must not least apply to the thickness of the wire mesh.
This species quickly become familiar, but are often incredibly demanding of their surroundings if you keep it as a single tamed pet bird, which must be absolutely advised against for the sake of the bird’s well-being.
Eastern Sulphur-crested Cockatoo.
Photo from the internet.
Jorgen Petersen
Conceived/Updated: 31.12.2012 / 11.01.2024
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