Cacatua galerita

(Birds of Drouin and District booklet P30)

Description

Size: 450-520mm

Sexes are the same. Familiar, all white cockatoo with a yellow crest. Male has a dark eye, females is red-brown.

Call

Loud screech ending in upward infection often given in flight.

Distribution

Across the top end and down the eastern side of the continent including Tasmania.

Nesting

Needs large tree hollows in which to nest, usually up high. Breeds from August through to January.

Habits

Often in large flocks feeding on the ground, sometimes with Little Corellas. Eats seed, fruit, grubs and insects. Quite ‘urbanized’ in some places, otherwise prefers the fringes of almost any eucalypt forest or woodland. In flight, rapid, shallow wing beats with occasional short glides – an identifiable characteristic. Common and abundant in many places. Sedentary.