Salmon-crested Cockatoo
Cacatua moluccensis
A large white cockatoo with a pinkish cast to many feathers and yellow under the wings. The bright salmon color may be mostly concealed unless the crest is raised. Usually found in pairs and small flocks. Calls are very loud screeches. Inhabits lowland rainforests in the southern Moluccas; also known as Moluccan Cockatoo. Introduced to the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where a small population has become established.
Taxonomy
The salmon-crested cockatoo was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus moluccensis. Gmelin based his description on those by earlier ornithologists. George Edwards had described and illustrated the cockatoo in 1751, Mathurin Jacques Brisson had described it in 1760, and the Comte de Buffon in had described and illustrated the cockatoo in 1779. The type locality is the Maluku Islands. The salmon-crested cockatoo is now one of 11 species placed in the genus Cacatua that was introduced in 1817 by Louis Pierre Vieillot. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Cacatua moluccensis
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Cacatuidae
- Genus
- Cacatua
Range and habitat
The salmon-crested cockatoo is endemic to the Seram archipelago in eastern Indonesia and has been introduced to the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where a small population has become established. Although they have been observed in the wild in Puerto Rico, they are probably the result of escaped pets, and no reproduction has been recorded.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Eurasian Skylark
Alauda arvensis
Like most larks, often inconspicuous on the ground and best detected by voice. The prolonged warbling and trilling song is given in flight, often so far overhead that the bird appears as a speck, if you can even see it. On the ground, note brown streaky plumage, distinct bushy crest, and broad, diffuse paler eyering. Chunkier than pipits, and does not habitually bob its rear end. In flight shows white sides to tail and narrow white trailing edge to wings. A denizen of open country, especially rough grassland, heathland, farmland, and airports.
European Robin
Erithacus rubecula
Distinctive and charismatic little bird with a bright orangey face and breast (easily hidden when facing away). Juvenile is very different, with bold pale buffy spotting on the back and breast. Found in a wide range of wooded habitats, including forests, gardens, hedges in farmland, and heathland, usually fairly near cover. Hops perkily on the ground, pausing to look around, often flicking its wings and cocking its tail. Also feeds by dropping to the ground from low perches, snatching up prey and flying back up to a shady perch. High-pitched song is highly variable, and incorporates a range of warbles and trills. Subsong is a rambling warbling series often incorporating odd fizzing and twittering notes. Calls include a dry “tic”, often given in bursts, as well as a thin, high-pitched, descending alarm call.
Terrestrial Brownbul
Phyllastrephus terrestris
A dull, dark brown, gregarious understory brownbul with dark red eyes and a whitish throat. Small groups of 4-6 individuals skulk in thickets and in lowland and montane forest up to 2100 meters. They hop and sneak through the undergrowth, flicking dead leaves and looking for insects and small vertebrates, giving a series of harsh nasal “ugk-ugk-ugk-ugk” chuckling notes that draw attention to themselves. The similar Northern Brownbul differs from the Terrestrial Brownbul by having warmer reddish tones on the tail and rump, and by lacking a white throat.
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