What is a yellow-crested cockatoo?
The little sunflower cockatoo (scientific name: Cacatua sulphurea) is a bird of the cockatoo family of the order Parrotidae, with a total of 4 subspecies. The body length is 35 cm, the body feathers are mainly white, and the snow white is beautiful. The top of the head has a long towering yellow crested crown feathers. When angry, the crown will be erected and fan-shaped, like a blooming sunflower. It is very noisy and likes to inhabit various forests, open woodlands, farmland, forest edge areas, semi-dry woodlands, etc. Its food includes seeds, shells, berries, nuts, fruits, buds, flowers, insects, etc. It lays 2-3 eggs at a time, and the male and female birds take turns incubating the eggs, making loud noises. It is distributed in the wild in Indonesia, mainly in the East Moluccas, New Guinea, King Island, Airu Island and many other islands in the Flores Sea.
What does a Yellow-crested Cockatoo look like?
The small sunflower parrot has a body length of 35 cm and a life span of 50 years. The cockatoo is a medium-sized parrot with predominantly white feathers, a retractable yellow crown on the top of the head, bare blue or white skin around the eyes, ear feathers, throat feathers, and pale yellow cheeks. Feet gray, beak black, the sexes are similar. Juveniles have the same dark brown iris as friendly birds, and it is difficult to distinguish the sex of juveniles within one year of age, while the iris of females is distinctly reddish-brown. The color of the crest of the little sunflower parrot varies with the place of origin, and some are almost white, while the crest of the sunflower parrot from Sumba is almost orange. Ornate crests make them a very special family of parrots. The crest of the small sunflower cockatoo is fan-shaped when it is unfolded. When the crest is not opened, the crest will form a slightly warped “braid” at the back of the head.
Yellow-crested Cockatoo living habits
Active in pairs and in small groups. They are heavy in flight, glide quickly after flapping their wings, and scream at each other. The crested head kept rising and falling when it stopped and croaked. Most of them feed and move together in pairs or about 3-9 birds, but sometimes it is found that there will be a large number of flocks to forage on fruit-bearing trees, and they will also gather for food with eclectic parrots. Noisy, usually inhabits forested areas when resting, then goes to low altitude areas and crop areas to forage in groups, sometimes hunted by farmers; natural food includes seeds, fruits, grains, berries, nuts, sprouts , buds, etc.
Yellow-crested Cockatoo rearing
The care of the sunflower cockatoo does not need to be too complicated, just like other parrots. But it should be noted that when you raise a sunflower cockatoo, you should be alert to his boredom, urgency, anxiety, etc. When encountering these problems, they may pluck their feathers.
Artificial feeding should use metal cages or metal frames, with metal food cans and water cans on both sides of the frame. It is advisable to use mixed seed and nut feed as the main food in the diet, and it needs to be fed with vegetables and fruits frequently. Do not provide only a single food as the main food, such as sunflower seeds, like many parrots who lack knowledge or are lazy and irresponsible bird traders and a few bad breeders. , this is very bad for their health and longevity, and with good care they are very strong birds.
