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Cacatua galerita galerita
It's always a wonderful and rewarding experience to encounter wild animals in their natural habitat, and that was certainly the case here - a nesting sulphur-crested cockatoo in native bushland. In fact, one of several, although the only one I saw clearly. This is a noisy and conspicuous species at the best of times, both at rest and in flight, but the calls of the birds in this spotting were totally different from the usual raucous cacophony I'm accustomed to. When I left my house only a short time before, half a dozen cockatoos were sitting on the fence and patio railing. Also birds from a wild crackle*, but they display different mannerisms when in urban settings. I also shot a video, so LISTEN TO THE AUDIO of the nesting birds in my spotting. Their calls echoed throughout the valley.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EgsDW31... Please forgive the video quality. It's a bit clunky, but was taken specifically for the audio!
I spotted this cockatoo nesting in the hollow of a dead eucalypt, situated in the dense native bushland of Fox Valley Reserve, in its southern section at North Epping in Sydney. Lush and green, and temperatures still warm, hence this late nesting. It'll get cold soon enough!
* I posed the question.... "What is a group of cockatoos called?" The proper term for a group of cockatoos, as defined in the Macquarie (dictionary), is "a bloody nuisance!" Hahaha That's a typically Australian response! I think the correct collective noun for a group of cockatoos is a "crackle".
Spotted on Mar 11, 2021
Submitted on Mar 18, 2021
12 Comments
So true. And they are too!
Dittoo-ing what Mel said.
Thanks, Tukup. Macaws sound like perfectly normal parrots, just like cockatoos, screeching everything at the top of their lungs. It is a wonderful experience to see large flocks of any bird species, but the parrots are favourites. Like the calls of the kookaburras, the cockatoos are definitely a quintessential Australian bush sound!
It must be really neat to see flocks of these in the wild. I never get tired of watching flocks of Macaws as they head off in the morning to their respective feeding areas and then congregate again towards evening. You can hardly hear yourself think standing under where they roost.
Hahaha That's a j j j jolly good gag :D I don't see them that often in Brisbane. Not inner city anyway. Lots of corellas though, but I certainly haven't payed any attention to the flock calls.
Their calls are not properly studied as far as I'm concerned. I've heard subtle and not so subtle changes sweep through the flocks and last for days or weeks. And one group might take on a new call and another nearby not. Usually when nesting they stay pretty quiet from memory. All too complicated for me but always fascinating. It'll be that feeding sequence soon... baby goes Rrrrrrrrrrrrr.... Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr.. Rrrrrrrrrr until parent stuffs food in gob with 'Ga Ga Ga ga ga ga ga gag' and it starts all over.
Yes, sorry about that. Did you watch/listen to the video, Mark? Have you heard this particular call before? A first for me. Different from the usual screeching squadron cacophony!
Oh no. Another one.
Endless entertainment. They're so adorable by nature but genuine pests in some parts of Australia. Not endemic to our area but we have clouds of thousands passing all day.
This one looks to have found a good nesting hole.
Thanks, Jae. There's lots of head "bobbing", but what else are hollows for?
Keek-a-boo :) Wonderful footages and notes, Neil.
Thanks, Mel. It made me laugh out loud! :D
Great pics and I will never again see a picture of a cockatoo without thinking of the collective noun :-)