February 1 - 28, 2025: Issue 639

 

Careel Bay's Sulphur-crested cockatoos: February 2025 Antics

These sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) visit the Pittwater Online yard of a morning and late afternoon. Apart from those seen grooming each other, and those feeding young ones, birds will perch in separate trees throughout the yard and do these wing flap displays, sometimes doing this while upside down and clinging to a small branch. The displays are accompanied by them 'yelling' to each other across the yards of here and next door.

Apparently flapping wings and calling out loudly is perfectly normal, just simply exercising, excitement, and trying to gain attention - a bit like children playing together outdoors.

Cockatoos scream as a 'contact call' to get your attention. They scream when excited. They scream to other members of their 'flock' and they scream when it's time to go to bed to summon the rest of the flock.

Raising their wings can mean different things for a cockatoo; It might be a sign of excitement, playfulness, or even a way to cool off if it's feeling too warm. In some cases, it could also be a display of dominance or a warning to others - which is what this display and yelling exercise feels like when we're watching.

They will also flap their wings to maintain balance or to show how big and strong they are.

On the obverse, cockatoos are incredibly affectionate to each other and even have a soft sweet voice when talking to each other and us humans.

Those that have had a cockatoo as a pet will tell you a cockatoo may raise its crest features and move around a lot to show affection and they are known to cuddle for long periods of time, and may even gently nibble or kiss you.

Sulphur crested cockatoos form very close bonds with members of their flock and stay in the same area all year round, living in family groups or flocks, and would be termed other 'residents' of a place and which is why people have witnessed a flock mourning a loved one that may have died.

Sulphur-crested cockatoos also mate for life. They are monogamous birds that form close bonds with their mates. Both birds will incubate and care for the chicks. The chicks remain with the parents all year round and family groups will stay together indefinitely.

Breeding Season is: August to January in the south; May to September in the north. Clutch size: 1 to 3. Incubation: 30 days. Time in nest: 65 days

Sexes are similar, although the female can be separated at close range by its red-brown eye - this is darker brown in the male.

Their diet consists of berries, seeds, nuts and roots. It also takes handouts from humans. Feeding normally takes place in small to large groups, with one or more members of the group watching for danger from a nearby perch. When not feeding, birds will bite off smaller branches and leaves from trees. These are not eaten though. The Australian Museum tells us this activity may help to keep the bill trimmed and from growing too large, although to us they look as though they are cleaning their teeth after a big meal.

They have been known to live for up to and over 80 years in captivity and around 40 years in the wild. This is why you may have the same birds visiting your home trees for decades - and why if you feel like they are giving you a friendly morning 'hello' they may well be doing just that!

The Bundjalung word for the sulphur-crested cockatoo is 'Gehr' while 'Garraway' is a word that refers to a native species of sulphur-crested cockatoos that are seen in Parramatta Park. 

Garrawi derives from a Dharawal word, "gi(a)rrawee(i)" (alternative spelling "​garrawi"), which means 'place of white cockatoos' or 'sulfur-crested cockatoos'.

Cockatoo Island, also known as Wareamah, was named after the sulphur-crested cockatoos that used to live there. Wareamah is the Dharug word for Cockatoo Island, the largest island in Sydney Harbour. It means "women's place" from;  the words "war" and "eamah", which mean "women" and "land" respectively. 

The island is historically associated with women's business and ceremonies and was a meeting place for Sydney's First Nations people for 60,000 years before European settlement. 

The Aboriginal word Biloela also means cockatoo. 

In some Aboriginal communities, cockatoos are seen as symbols of change and connection to the spiritual world.

"Cockatoo", the word, is thought to come from the Dutch word "kaketoe", which is a Eurocised adaptation from the Malay word, "kakatua". The word 'cockatoo' origins in Malay  means 'vice' or 'grip' and is attributed to describing their incredibly strong beak. This word may have been adopted during the spice trade and the Dutch's time in the Indonesian archipelago in the 17th Century. Variants of the word including, cacato, cockatoon, crockadore, cocatores appear in travel writing around this time, but "Cockatoo" was settled on in 1850.

However, just here, on the verges of Careel Bay, Palm Beach and North Avalon, we have our own place of the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos and get to witness how they interact with Corellas, Galahs, Bush Turkeys, Rainbow and Musk Lorikeets, Magpies, Currawongs and Butcher birds all year round - these too are permanent year round residents of this place - along with a variety of other birds that visit as Summer visitors and nest in the branches and tree hollows here.

I suppose you could call the PON yard 'Birdland' - which can be noisy first thing of a morning and in the hour before dusk - before they all wing their way across the valley to roost for the night in the trees of Stokes Point and the western perimeter of Careel Bay.

Some of those oft witnessed parts of the precarious cockatoo display, which we watched for several minutes, afraid the bird was in trouble, prove you wouldn't do this unless you had wings and could simply let go and fly away. Pictures taken Monday February 3, 2025