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    Cockatoo, Sulfur Crested

    • Animals & Attractions
    • Animals
    • Cockatoo, Sulfur Crested

    Sulfur crested cockatoos are social birds, traveling in small groups during breeding season and flying across the Australian landscape in large flocks at other times.

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      Cockatoo, Sulfur Crested
      Cacatua galerita, Aves Psittaciformes

      This is a large, mainly white cockatoo with a striking erectile yellow crest, and a yellow suffusion on the underside of the wings and tail. The flight is erratic and appears slightly labored, with rapid, shallow wing-beats interspersed with glides on stiff wings.They are usually found in pairs or small family parties during the breeding season, and at other times in flocks, sometimes numbering hundreds of birds.

      They are wary and difficult to approach. When the flock is feeding on the ground a few individuals remain perched in the tops of surrounding trees. At the approach of danger these "sentinels" rise into the air screeching loudly, and the entire flock flies off.

      • Conservation Education Ambassador Animals
      • RangeAustralia & New Guinea
      • HabitatForest, woodland, mangroves, open country, agricultural land, and suburban areas
      • Wild DietSeeds, herbs, sprouting wheat, roots, rhizomes, nuts, berries, flowers, corms, insect larva

      Conservation

      StatusLeast Concern

      The Zoo is tackling today's most complex and pressing human-wildlife conservation issues with conservation partners in more than a dozen countries around the world.

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      Did you know?

      These cockatoos are native to Australia and can number in the hundreds in one single flock, however they can be found in New Zealand if they’ve accidentally been released or blown off course.

      • Behavior

        They are usually found in pairs or small family parties during the breeding season, and at other times in flocks, sometimes numbering hundreds of birds. They are wary and difficult to approach. When the flock is feeding on the ground a few individuals remain perched in the tops of surrounding trees. At the approach of danger these ‘sentinels’ rise into the air screeching loudly, and the entire flock flies off. The flight is erratic and appears slightly labored, with rapid, shallow wing-beats interspersed with glides on stiff wings.

      • Reproduction

        The courtship display is simple and brief. The male struts along a branch toward the female. With his crest raised, he bobs his head up and down and moves it from side to side in a figure-eight movement, uttering soft, chattering notes. Mutual preening and touching of bills follow. In southern Australia the breeding season is from August to January, and in the north from May to September. The nest is in a hollow limb or hole in a tree, usually high in a tree near water. Eggs are laid on decayed wood dust lining the bottom of the hollow. Both sexes brood. The young birds vacate the nest about ten weeks after hatching.

      • GestationIncubation: About 30 days
      • Litter3 eggs

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