Nature Feature - Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

The Sulphur Crested (White) Cockatoo

(Cacatua galerita).

The White or Sulphur Crested Cockatoo (also known as the Yellow-Crested Cockatoo) is a common and familiar bird, even in towns and cities, throughout most of northern and eastern Australia, including Tasmania and in the south-west of Western Australia. It is probably the best known of the Australian Parrots and is renowned throughout the world as a cage-bird.

The Sulphur Crested Cockatoo is found in pairs and in large flocks, frequenting heavily timbered mountain ranges, open forests, paddocks and timber bordering watercourses. The bird's normal food is seeds and bulbous roots but the species sometimes does damage to crops and suburban gardens.

The birds are noisy with a variety of calls, the most common being a raucous ear-splitting screech. Pairs nest in a hole in a tree and in cavities in tall cliffs. Two or three white eggs are produced in a clutch during the breeding season from August to November.

Source: Neville W. Cayley's What Bird is That - 1931.

The Sulphur Crester Cockatoo is featured on the following Australian coins:

1990 Silver $10 Birds of Australia and Piedfort.