The Cockatoo Belongs To The Bird Family Cacatuidae

The Cockatoo belongs to the bird family Cacatuidae. The name of cockatoo is originated from Malay. The Cockatoos can be recognizable by their showy crests and curved bills.

The plumage is less colorful than the plumage of other parrots, they generally have white, grey or black, and frequently with colored features in the crest, cheeks and tail.

The Cockatoos` dies consists of seeds, tubers, corms, fruits, flowers and insects. They live in flocks, that is why when they go for food, they go in flocks.

The Cockatoos have between 30 to 60 cm in length and between 300 to 1,200 g in weight. Like any parrots, the cockatoos have short legs ,strong claws and a waddling gait. Because of their large wings, the cockatoos can fly with the speed of 70 km/h.

The Cockatoos use their “voice” when they want to recognize each other, when alerting other of predators , when indicating individual moods or when maintaining the cohesion of a flock.

The Cockatoos are diurnal birds, and need daylight to find their food. They have also several characteristics methods of bathing: they may hang upside down or fly about in the rain, or flutter in wet leaves in the canopy.

The Cockatoos` nests consists of sticks, wood chips and branches with leaves. The eggs are oval and initially white as their location makes camouflage unnecessary. Only 20% of eggs laid are infertile. The incubation depends on species size, the duration may be between 20 to 29 days.

Like other parrots, the cockatoos can be afflicted by psittacoses beak and feather disease. The viral infection causes feather loss and beak malformation, and reduces the bird`s overall immunity.

Many of the cockatoos have benefited greatly from anthropogenic changes to the landscape, with the great increase in reliable seed food sources and available water, and have also adapted well to a diet including foreign foodstuffs. Preponderantly forest- dwelling species have suffered greatly from habitat destruction; in the main , they appear to have a more specialized diet and have not been able to incorporate exotic food into their diet.

Something About Parrots

The parrots are a broad order of more than 350 birds. Macaws, Amazons, lorikeets, lovebirds, cockatoos and many others are all considered parrots.

Though there is great diversity among these birds, there are similarities as well. All parrots have curved beaks and all are zygodactyls, meaning they have four toes on each foot, two pointing forward and two projecting backward. Most parrots eat fruit, flowers, buds, nuts, seeds, and some small creatures such as insects.
Parrots are found in warm climates all over most of the world. The greatest diversities exist in Australasia, Central America, and South America.
Many parrots are kept as pets, especially macaws, Amazon parrots, cockatiels, parakeets, and cockatoos. These birds have been popular companions throughout history because they are intelligent, charismatic, colorful, and musical. Some birds can imitate many nonavian sounds, including human speech. The male African gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus) is the most accomplished user of human speech in the animal world; this rain forest-dweller is an uncanny mimic.
Currently the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) bans the sale of any wild-caught species, yet the parrots' popularity continues to drive illegal trade.
Some parrot species are highly endangered. In other cases, once tame birds have reproduced in the wild and established thriving feral populations in foreign ecosystems. The monk (green) parakeet, for example, now lives in several U.S. states.