{"id":130,"date":"2018-03-09T11:11:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T11:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/clements\/?p=130"},"modified":"2018-03-09T11:11:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T11:11:59","slug":"bird-of-the-week-the-sulphur-crested-cockatoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/clements\/2018\/03\/09\/bird-of-the-week-the-sulphur-crested-cockatoo\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird of the week – the sulphur-crested cockatoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0This week\u2019s bird of the week is the sulphur-crested cockatoo. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My wife Deb still remembers being amazed at seeing flocks of these big white birds when we first were driven home from the airport. Now we see cockatoos we are not so surprised, but still impressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

They are definitely a bit like how you would imagine pterosaurs to be. Usually when they fly they announce their presence with a continuous screeching\/squawking noise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So when you get a large group of them together, it\u2019s a raucous. The other night we watched a few 100 of them at our local golf course roosting for the night. Every time one would move about, it would set off some serious squawking\u2026followed by a period of brief quiet, then another would move, setting off more squawking. Hard to get sleep in that neighborhood \u2013 whether you\u2019re a bird or some other kind of beast! <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When they fly, it is with urgency, like they are thinking they might drop out of the s<\/span>ky if they stop beating their wings frantically. Not great gliders, I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n

Watching them eat and drink is fun though \u2013 as you\u2019ll see in the following video, they enjoy their pine cones, drinking water, and eating sand.<\/span><\/p>\n