Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Sulphur-crested cockatoo

Cacatua galerita

Description:

With its pristine white plumage and striking, bright yellow crest, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is one of Australasia's most recognisable parrot species. The crest is erectile and can reach up to 14 centimetres in length. The undersurfaces of the wings and tail are washed with pale yellow, while the bill and feet are black and dark-grey respectively. The sexes are almost identical, except for the eye, which is brown in the male and red-brown in the female. There are four recognised subspecies of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo which are distinguished by location, as well as by differences in body size, bill size, and the colouration around the eye, which is white in all of the subspecies except for Cacatua galerita fitzroyi, in which it is blue.

Habitat:

In Australia, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos can be found widely in wooded habitats in the north and east, ranging as far south as Tasmania, but avoiding arid inland areas with few trees. They are numerous in suburban habitats in cities such as Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Except for highland areas, they occur throughout most of New Guinea and on nearby smaller islands such as Waigeo, Misool and Aru, and various islands in the Cenderawasih Bay and Milne Bay.

Notes:

Spotted in the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Australia.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

No Comments

Jae
Spotted by
Jae

Spotted on Jan 13, 2010
Submitted on May 17, 2014

Related Spottings

Cacatúa cacatua Cacatúa ninfa Cacatua

Nearby Spottings

Bar-tailed Godwit Australian Pied Oystercatcher Red-capped Plover Rainbow Lorikeet
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team