About
eight years ago a wild Australian Sulphur Crested Cockatoo flew into
a car and broke its wing. The motorist took it to the Vet in Nerang, Queensland, who had to
amputate the wing. We adopted her - for which we
needed a National Parks and Wildlife permit - and kept her in a
cage outside
where she was often visited by wild Cockatoos.
One of the things
that impressed us was how she would push lettuce leaves
through the
bars of the cage, offering
food to visitors. Last Sunday she
again had a visitor.
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As usual he spent a lot of time sitting on
the cage with a tamper proof latch.
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There was a lot of talking and grooming. A
bloke has to look presentable when courting a bird!
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Things got interesting when he approached the
front door...
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The clever fellow figured out how to undo the
tamper proof latch!
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He opened the door for a lot of mutual
grooming and food sharing...
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Oooh that's nice! Scratch a bit more on that
side, dear...
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He was not shy to get into the cage and would
go in and out a number of times.
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They mated! We are looking forward to
beautiful baby cockatoos.
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Later on, the whole extended family came
visiting but the special mate was back every day so far.
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We leave the door open during the day but if
we forget, it doesn't matter - cockatoos have intelligence that
rival primates. Because she has only one wing, she stays inside
or just sits on top. Guess what happened next...
The Babies
At first it seemed as though he was annoyed because she did not
fly off with him and he would squawk a lot. He soon came to understand
that she could not fly so he just stayed. However, she was no
longer returning to her cage. The two of them would stay in the
trees in our garden and because the yard is well fenced, they
were safe from dogs but the neighbour's cat is not kept indoors
at night and we often have to chase it away. Chances are the cat
would come off second best in a confrontation with a Cockatoo but
at night cats remain a danger because they could stalk a sleeping
bird on the ground.
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Cockatoos make their nests in hollow logs but
we noticed the male hard at work digging a hole under a clump of
Lilly Pilly trees. We put down a hollow log for them but they
just ignored us. The nest he dug was a hole with a short tunnel
leading off to where she laid her eggs. Once there were eggs in
the nest, the male became extremely aggressive. You better not
get near the nest or he will take chunks
of flesh from your foot. It was difficult to take these pictures
because I literally had to steal them while running away from the
male.
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We kept a vigil to see how things were
progressing. They
took turns incubating the eggs and covering the tunnel.
After about three weeks, the eggs hatched.
Have a careful look at this picture and try to spot the bit of
yellow fluff.
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Whenever Mum & Dad Cockatoo leave the
nest, we try to get a look but you have to do it while running
because Dad Cockatoo is chasing you!
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Second lap running around the Lilly Pilly
trees!
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Well, I hope his mother thinks he is pretty
and eventually I might think so too but at the moment, both of
them just look like pink balls with a bit of yellow fluff.
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How's that for a true story!
cheers,
Trish Munro