November Project: Days 10-12

[calissa]

I spent yesterday and the day before writing up some notes on the Robin Hood RPG I've been playing. I hope this will translate into a post on the topic once I get a little more time.

As for today's contribution:



Sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita). I think this fellow is male because his eye looks black, but it is extremely difficult to tell. You can also see that he is a little bit dirty at the front, probably from the mud that's around from all the rain we've had over the last few days.



I usually have trouble telling individual cockatoos apart, due to their lack of distinctive markings. However, I'm pretty sure this is the same fellow that visits regularly. If there is no seed in the birdfeeder he will perch on the chair and peer in our sliding glass doors. This is his "what is that thing you are pointing at me and where is dinner?" look.



In the above photo, he's feeling a bit nervous that I'm moving around, even though he knows I'm filling up the bird feeder. He's tamer than most of the others, who usually fly off as soon as I step outside.

Comments

[clare_dragonfly]

So this is a wild cockatoo that hangs around your yard? How cool! I've only ever seen cockatoos as pets.

[calissa]

Yes, indeed! Though apparently becoming a little less wild...

[onewhitecrow]

Eee! You should talk to him and see if you can get him used to you being in a chair (hands are most threatening to birds - they feel safer if you can't get up and grab them) nearby, then he might come and chat.

I believe cockatoos are 'talking birds' (i.e. ones that learn language from their parents rather than automatically making a set of sounds by instinct), so if you listen in on the local gang talking to each other you'll probably have a vague idea of how to say "here's food!" and such. What do lady sulphur-crests look like in comparison to the gentlemen?

[calissa]

That's an interesting idea. I might try sitting in the chair--though I expect he's just after the food. I confess that I do tend to talk to him (and the rosellas) when I head out to feed them.

I'm honestly not sure I could replicate the sounds they make. Those screeches are impressive. I also suspect that this fellow is an outcast from the local gang, though I'm not quite sure.

My field guide tells me that female cockatoos have eyes that are a bit more reddish brown (as opposed to black), but that this can only be seen under optimal conditions.

[onewhitecrow]

That is probably his first interest, but in my experience the human/nonhuman divide is less of a huge gulf than we post-Enlightenment folk are taught to believe.

Hee...aw, all the more reason to befriend him, then, so long as the dogs learn he's Not Food.

Huh. I will probably remember that indefinitely.

[calissa]

Good point :)

The dogs are wary of taking on cockatoos--probably because they're such big birds. Perhaps on par with ravens?

Galahs are the same, though it's a little easier to tell them apart. The males have black eyes and the females have red. I must get some photos of those guys at some stage...

[onewhitecrow]

I've caught rooks simply admiring a sunset before - I couldn't work out what was up with them at first, Western society-trained as I am: they were all looking in one direction in a field, not talking or foraging, or doing anything in particular, just looking...then I looked the other way and saw quite how magnificent our supersaturated Northern light was looking over Kirkwall and the hills and twigged at once.

[googlage] Wikipedia thinks your big sulphur-crests are about 10cm smaller than our ravens beak-to-tail, but that's still a big birdie with one hell of a bite, 'tis true. Still, a modern chicken isn't so tiny (or docile), and I've had friends lose chooks to otherwise well-behaved dogs, is why I caution.

I don't even know what a galah is - please do!

[calissa]

How amazing! I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on the flocks of birds around here for similar behaviour. It must have been quite a sight (both birds and sunset)!

You have another good point, there. I am very strict with the dogs about not chasing birds but hunters are as hunters do and therefore it never hurts to be vigilant.

They're proving remarkably difficult to photograph, being flightier than the cockatoos and lower on the pecking order (which works roughly in size order of rosellas --> galahs --> cockatoos).

My friend in the photo is getting bolder. He peered inside at me for a good half an hour while I waited for my SO to finish grocery shopping and bring me some bird seed (we had run out). He allowed me to get very close. I held out some birdseed to him and he rebuked me by (gently) nipping my finger (it was, after all, a silly move on my part).