Cockatoos | Cacatuidae

Kaketoes | Cacatúas

Cockatoos lack the feather structure that makes other parrots green and blue; what remains is white, black, grey, pink and yellow, with a crest raised at will — in excitement, in threat and in greeting a mate. Certain down feathers shed a fine powder continuously, which is worked through the plumage and keeps it clean. The bill is heavy enough to crack hard seeds, nuts and woody fruit and to break open dead timber for grubs. They nest in hollows in old trees, which ties them to forest left alone long enough for hollows to form. Outside the breeding season they move about in noisy flocks, part of the group feeding on the ground while a few birds keep watch from above. They live long: decades in the wild, with a pair bond that lasts as long.