Slide 2: Yellow-Crested Cockatoo's diet
•Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are mainly seed-eaters, feeding on seeds of grasses, herbaceous plants, trees and grain crops. They also eat bulbous roots, berries, nuts and leaf buds, and some insects and their larvae.
•The strong beak and tongue are well-adapted for this diet. The pincer-like beak easily pierces the toughest seed shell. The tongue extracts the kernel inside, and the broken halves of the husk are dropped to the ground. The tongue is so sensitive and flexible that the Cockatoo can store uneaten seeds inside its beak while it selects and opens one seed at a time.
Slide 3: Yellow-Crested Cockatoos Habbitat
•Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are widely distributed throughout open timbered country in northern, eastern and south-eastern mainland Australia, as well as Tasmania and several smaller offshore islands. They have been introduced to Perth in Western Australia.
•There is only one race in Australia, grading from smaller birds with heavier bills and shorter crests in the north, to larger birds with smaller beaks and shorter crests in the south.
Slide 4
Breeding and Raising the Young
• Breeding season is from August to January in the south-east, and from May to September farther north.
• Breeding season is from August to January in the south-east, and from May to September farther north.
• In courtship, the male struts towards the female with the crest erect and tail feathers spread wide. He also nods and bobs and flicks his head from side to side, emitting a low chuckling call. These displays are often performed during the process of nest preparation and many such displays usually precede the actual mating.
•Chicks remain close to their parents even after they have reached full size. They will sidle up to the parent along a tree branch, giving a pathetic, wheezing call. The parent then regurgitates food from the crop, pumping it into the young bird's beak. This pumping causes the chick to make a rhythmic, high-pitched chirping noise as it is being fed.m
Slide 5
What do Yellow-Crested Cockatoo's Look Like?
Slide 5
What do Yellow-Crested Cockatoo's Look Like?
•These birds really are unmistakable. Their all-over brilliant white plumage is visible from many kilometres away, silhouetted against distant hills or outlined against the horizon . Among the largest of our parrots, they can reach half a metre in length (18 inches).
•The crest seems to reflect the bird's emotions. When it is excited or alarmed, the feathers are fully extended, reaching far forward over the bird's head. A bird at rest, or one which doesn’t feel well, will have its crest feathers flattened against the back of its head.
••Males and females look alike; only up close and in strong light can it be noticed that the eye of the female has a lighter, reddish-coloured iris. Males have very dark brown irises. From a distance, eyes of all birds look black. Males have slightly larger heads, and stand taller than females, but the birds have to be seen in pairs for this difference to be noticeable
Slide 6
How long Yellow-Crested Cockatoo's live for
•They are long lived bird like most cockatoo. They can live up to eighty years. In the wild, they live just 40 years.