AY Honors/Parrots and Cockatoos/Answer Key

The Gang-gang Cockatoo, Callocephalon fimbriatum , is member of the cockatoo family. It is a shy, mostly-grey parrot of Australian alpine bushland. The male has a red head and crest while the female has a small fluffy grey crest. It ranges through out South Eastern Australia and Tasmania. The Gang-gang cockatoo is the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory. It is easily identified by its distinctive call, which is often described as resembling a creaky gate, or the sound of a cork being pulled from a wine bottle.

Gang-gang Cockatoos require hollow tree trunks or branches to place their nesting sites. A loss of this habitat across south-eastern Australia through land clearing has led to a significant reduction in the numbers of this Cockatoo in recent years.

External links

• ParrotScience - cockatoo heavy information site
• NSW National Parks & Wildlife - Proposed vulnerable species listing
• BirdLife Species Factsheet

References

• Flegg, Jim. Birds of Australia: Photographic Field Guide Sydney: Reed New Holland, 2002. (ISBN 1876334789)

Gallery

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  A female Gang-gang cockatoo eating peppercorns

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  Male Gang-gang cockatoo

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  Female Gang-gang cockatoo