Cockatoos
Friendly, fun, funny
Cockatoos will show their wings, raise their crest and proudly display themselves but are friendly and love being petted and snuggled. But beware, a young bird will become very committed and connected to you, which means you must invest time each day to play with your pet cockatoo.
They need their friends
Neglect will lead to uncontrolled screaming or restless feather picking, which are all habits you will find hard to break. Plenty of toys and plenty of friendship is the answer. When excited or alarmed, cockatoos will raise their crest. When they are bored they will chew anything made of wood.
All colours, features and fun
There are 21 species of Australian Cockatoo (bird family Cacatuidae) and they live up to 60 years of age. They are mainly Australasian in distribution. They come in all colours, sizes and names such as black and red, black and yellow, black and white, true white, yellow crested, sulphur crested and salmon crested or short-billed, long-billed, yellow tailed or red tailed or named Major Mitchell, Eleonora, Fitzroy, blue-eyed or palm cockatoo, which is black with red cheeks. There are galahs, corellas and cockatiels.
Here are some other facts about cockatoos
- Often live in large flocks and will breed in hollow logs.
- Yellow-tailed black cockatoo can tear open thick branches to get to the grubs and insects.
- Long-billed corella digs into the ground to get to roots.
- All but the cockatiel can use their feet to hold food items.
- Cockatoos love to chew on branches and timber to exercise their beak and alleviate boredom.
- Larger cockatoos are slow to mature, generally raise one baby per clutch, but are long lived.
- Smaller cockatoos generally average about two babies per clutch.