Little Corella
Cacatua sanguinea· 凤头鹦鹉科(1 photos)
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Little Corella
35-39 cm. Small white cockatoo with short, erectile, cap-like crest; whitish-horn bill; blue-grey bare skin around eye; pink stain between bill and eye (faint in nominate race of nw. WA, Top End (NT)); underfeathers of head and throat pink; underwings/undertail washed yellow. Pairs to immense noisy flocks in trees by water and feeding on ground. Flight direct, on broad wings, with occasional hesitant wingbeat.
- Similar Species
- Long-billed, Western Corella.
- Voice
- noisy, high-pitched, falsetto 'currup'; screeches.
- Habitat
- rangelands, pastoral country: sandhills with spinifex; gibber, saltbush, mulga, mallee, native cypress; crops, stubble, timbered watercourses, dams, tanks, mangroves, offshore islands, cliffs, towns.
- Breeding
- Aug.-Oct. in s.; May-Oct. in n.
- Nest
- on decayed debris; in tree-hollow, cavity in cliff, termite mound.
- Eggs
- 3-4; white, oval.
- Range & Status
- widespread inland, n. and w. Aust; s. to Geraldton-Mt Magnet (s. WA) and to central Vic.; scarce higher rainfall areas of e. Aust. Expanding coastwards in e. and s. Aust. into ranges of Western and Long-billed Corellas. Common to very abundant. Local feral flocks from aviary escapes/releases in e. Tas. and many e. and se. coastal towns. Sedentary; nomadic. Also s. PNG.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Cacatua sanguinea sanguinea 2. Cacatua sanguinea gymnopis 3. Cacatua sanguinea normantoni
