Yellow-crested Cockatoo
Cacatua sulphurea
A medium-sized white cockatoo with a yellow crest; rare and endangered throughout its native range but has several strong naturalized populations across Asia. Raucous and social, usually seen in large flocks flying noisily over forested areas. Noticeably smaller than the similarly-colored Sulphur-crested Cockatoo; no natural range overlap, but the two coexist in parts of their introduced range, such as Singapore.
Taxonomy
In the 18th century, yellow-crested cockatoos were imported into Europe as pets and these birds were described by various naturalists. In 1738 English naturalist Eleazar Albin included a description and illustration of the "Cockatoo or White crested parrot" in his A Natural History of Birds based on a bird displayed at "The Tiger" tavern on Tower Hill in London. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included "Le Kakatoes à hupe jaune" in his Onithologie based on a live bird that he had seen in Paris. Then in 1764, George Edwards included the "Lesser white cockatoo with a yellow crest" in his Gleanings of natural history from a pet bird kept at a home in Essex, and in 1779 French polymath Comte de Buffon included the bird in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.<p>When the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae in 1788 he included the yellow-crested cockatoo based on the accounts of earlier naturalists. He placed it with the parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus sulphureus. The type locality is the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The yellow-crested cockatoo is now one of 11 species placed in the genus Cacatua that was introduced in 1817 by Louis Pierre Vieillot.<p>According to the International Ornithological Congress, 5 subspecies are recognized:<p>Previously, only 4 of these were recognized, but djampeana and occidentalis were recognized in 2022 based on a 2014 phylogenetic study. The subspecies paulandrewi, thought to be endemic to the Tukangbesi Islands and also recognized in the 2014 study, is not recognized by the IOC.<p>Until 2023, the citron-crested cockatoo (Cacatua citrinocristata) was considered by the IOC to be a subspecies of yellow-crested cockatoo.
- Scientific name
- Cacatua sulphurea
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Cacatuidae
- Genus
- Cacatua
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
The yellow-crested cockatoo is critically endangered. Numbers have declined dramatically due to illegal trapping for the cage-bird trade. Between 1980 and 1992, over 100,000 of these birds were legally exported from Indonesia, yet a German proposal submitted to CITES to move it to Appendix I was not approved. It has since been moved to Appendix I. The current population is estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals and is thought to be declining in number.<p>The subspecies C. s. abbotti is found only on the island of Masakambing. Its population on this tiny island (about 5 km2 or 1.9 mi2) had fallen to 10 as of June and July 2008. The decline results from trapping and logging, especially of mangroves (Avicennia apiculata) and kapok trees.<p>Several national parks their habitat, including Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park on Sulawesi, Komodo National Park on Komodo Island, the national parks of Manupeu Tanah Daru and Laiwangi Wanggameti on Sumba, and the Nino Konis Santana National Park in East Timor (Timor-Leste).
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Louisiana Waterthrush
Parkesia motacilla
Brown-and-white denizen of bubbling streams and brooks. Look for white underparts with dark streaks, light buffy wash on the rear flanks, and bold white eyebrow. Stays on or near the ground, constantly bobbing its rear end up and down. Males sometime perch up high to sing. A very early migrant: arrives on the breeding grounds in eastern North America before most other warblers have even dreamed of starting migration, and arrives back on the wintering grounds as early as July or August. During the breeding season, favors fast-moving streams with lots of rocks to hop on. In the northern parts of its range, often in steep hemlock-lined ravines. Winters primarily in Middle America and the Caribbean, where it’s slightly less picky about habitat, and can be found around slower-moving water. Very similar to Northern Waterthrush, but whiter base color below, brighter pink legs, and broader white eyebrow. Also look for clean white throat (usually streaked on Northern). Best distinguished by song: several piercing clear whistles followed by a complex jumble of notes. Call note very similar to Northern: a loud, metallic chip.
Amazon Kingfisher
Chloroceryle amazona
Medium-sized kingfisher of tropical lowlands. Found singly or in pairs, along rivers and at the edges of ponds and lakes, often perched on wires or bare snags. Mainly flies low over the water. Size similar to Belted Kingfisher, but black bill much more massive and crest more tufted. Also differs from Belted in its dark oily-green head and upperparts. Green Kingfisher is much smaller with bold white spots and bars on the wings.
Island Whistler
Pachycephala phaionota
A rather drab, medium-sized bird of wooded habitats on small islands. Gray head, white throat, brown back and very pale brown underparts with slightly darker brown smudges on the sides of the chest. Very similar to Brown-backed Whistler but does not co-occur. No similar species in range. Gives a jumbled, whistled song, interspersed with repeated, typical whistler “whip!” notes. Call, a sharp descending “jip!”.
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