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12

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo feeding on seeds

(Cacatua galerita)
Alternate name(s): "White Cockatoo"
Aboriginal name(s): "gehr" [western bundjalung]; "gayambula" [ngadjon]; "kaneky", "mooyi", "kogga-longo", "arunta", "korina", "kudrungoo", "moorai", "nannawarra", "tingari"
Size: 45-50 cm
Weight: 835 g (average)

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The photos below give an impression of how cockatoos in general crack and peel seeds. Sometimes they may first grab a seedpod and then open that, but in most cases, when the fruit is ripe, the seedpod will already be open. In this case, a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is feeding on the seeds of an Acacia salicina tree.

First retrieve seeds from the open pod...

...then peel the seed out of its red skin

The white flesh of the seed is all the birds want

Here one can see the bite (with the upper mandible inside the lower one) that the birds use to peel seeds

Here a different year's harvest...

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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