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The Pink Cockatoo (Cacatua leadbeateri) has undergone a number of common name changes. The scientific species name given to it by Nicholas Vigors in 1831 references Benjamin Leadbeater, who gave Vigors the type specimen. Although Leadbeater's Cockatoo was an early name used by Edward Lear and John Gould, amongst others, the species has been commonly called Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, named after Major Thomas Mitchell, who called the bird "the cockatoo of the interior" and published the first drawing of the bird. In 2023, the IOC changed the common name to the Pink Cockatoo in light of Mitchell's involvement in the massacre of Aboriginal people at Mount Dispersion in 1836. At the same time, the genus was changed from Lophochroa to Cacatua, the genus of the white cockatoos of Australia. Two subspecies are recognized, an eastern one that has a yellow stripe through the middle of the red in the crest, and a western one, shown here, that lacks yellow in the crest.
The paddy melon is a non-native plant to Australia, but these cockatoos have adapted to eating them. In the strange way of many parrots, they do not eat the flesh of the melon but rather pick out the seeds and eat them.
This is one of a number of images that I have from my recent trip to Australia. More to follow. I am getting very close to having 100 species of parrots photographed!
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The paddy melon is a non-native plant to Australia, but these cockatoos have adapted to eating them. In the strange way of many parrots, they do not eat the flesh of the melon but rather pick out the seeds and eat them.
This is one of a number of images that I have from my recent trip to Australia. More to follow. I am getting very close to having 100 species of parrots photographed!
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Two
