Palm Cockatoo

[Pedro 65]

The Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) is native to Cape York in Far Nth Qld and PNG including Irian Jaya, this is the closest ive ever been to a Palm cockatoo and would love to view these in the wild in Cape York. Palm cockatoos are over 2Ft in length.. The male Palm Cockatoo is now well known to be a great drummer to impress the females during mating season by banging a fresh branch on a hollow log. During long drumming sessions he splits the branch to build a new nest then finds another branch to drum , build and impress They have an excellent diet in the wild of fruiting trees that produce large seeds/nuts and their favourite is the Screw Palm Pandanus, many say that the name Palm Cockatoo came from early sightings of large numbers feeding on this particular Pandan.

Anyway I dont know if this Amazing Australian Cockatoo has had any threads before so I thought Id post the below pic which I took , wish I took lots more shots ..will next time.. the pic was taken in a Licenced Bird Park , Palm Cockatoos for good reasons are "Protected" in Oz and cant be kept as pets..... and a pic off flckr to show the size of the massive top beak. Pete

[Cindy Adair]

Wow!

[EllisB]

magnificent bird. One of my favorites. I've had the privilage working with these birds along with the Gang Gang, Major Mitchell's and other Cockatoo's. The bird life of Australia is spectacular.

[palmislandRandy]

http://youtu.be/BQ0iDhtCCaY Here's one that was at a friends bird store. I've held her & she is a formidable, heavy bird. I believe she was raised from an egg & is a sweetie. They are very rare in the US & I believe she was sold for $15,000+ US. She's now in California with an owner that has a male.

[QUINNPALMS]

Awesome!

[aussiearoids]

Pretty loud call also . Novel I just read has fierce Aboriginal tribes using it as they attacked gold miners sneaking up to the Palmer gold fields ages ago .

[Harry]

Truly magnificent birds.

Too expensive and rare for the average person (a good thing though).

[rick]

They are such beautiful birds with great personalities. They love to be the center of attention. That beak takes some getting used to. Even compared to a macaw its huge. My boss has a male. Here he is at our Christmas party a few years ago.