Sulphur Crested Cockatoos

Cockies

It is sometimes a little easy to look so hard for the more unusual birds on an area, that we forget the more common.

These Sulphur Crested Cockatoos,  Cacatua galerita,  are terribly noisy animals. They can give a person a fright when they screech overhead.

They seem to love my garden, especially the tall tulip tree. Here they sit for hours,  pulling the seed cones apart and dropping the litter on to the grass below. They seem too, to enjoy just nipping the new growth off the branches.

They also love the maples in the driveway. They sit there through much of the day hissing to themselves and snipping off the smaller twigs. What vandals they are!

Isabelle, the two year old who often comes to visit, thinks they are called 'Shoo cockies'. I wonder whom she has learned that from.

But oh so majestic at the same time. They have such lovely strong white plumage and brilliant crests. It is a pleasure to watch them. And the trees don't really seem to mind the constant pruning.