Sulphur-crested Cockatoo couple

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are probably our most well known Cockatoo. Their distribution coincides, more or less, with Australia’s human population, though the SW WA birds were introduced there. They are intelligent and hardy birds, even doing well in captivity as pets.

While doing bird surveys with BirdLife East Gippsland in late August 2018 at Australian Landscape Trust’s Strathfieldsaye property at Perry Bridge in East Gippsland I found a male/female pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos cuddling up with the male preening the female. Given the time of year they no doubt had a nest hollow nearby.

Please click on photos to enlarge.

By the time I had taken this last photo I realised I had been side-tracked and it was time to get back to the bird survey work.

Note: The colour stain on the plumage is real and not a trick of the light or due to camera gear or post photo digital adjustments. The plumage is normally brilliant white. The colour may be staining due to ground feeding or it could be redgum wood dust from nesting activity - most of the older trees in the area with nest hollows are Forest Redgums which, as the name suggests, have red wood.