The Eleonora Cockatoos
Photo Above: Aru Islands the home of the Eleonora Cockatoo
The Eleonora Cockatoo also known as a Medium Sulphur crested, is the most common species of the Sulphur crested. Just like all of the Sulphur crested birds, predictably unpredictable.
They are enthusiastic, happy, confident, proud, clever, mischievous, busy and they love to fly. The males run around the enclosure playing mutual games of tag. If a branch or log falls on the ground they will immediately, start to dig a divot under it. If the fallen perch stays on the ground for long, the males will start to claim it and become territorial. I can hear the tension building until I get in there and remove or rehang the perch.
The new birds are accepted readily and are thrilled to mix in with their own kind. Their eyes light up, like a kid at Disneyland. They love to root around on the ground and always keep the wild willow bushes behind their enclosure trimmed. (see photo left) I have no idea who the gardener is.
I put up a new larger enclosure for the Eleonora it’s double the size of their previous colony. It has already reached capacity.
There is no flock leader in this colony, or any other colony here, at our Sanctuary. There are birds that get moody. The other birds give the moody one a wide berth until the mood has passed.
Females are very sweet, loving and typical of most female Cockatoos. They are not as noisy or destructive as the males. I have two “time out” enclosures for this colony, for the naughty males when they get moody. The females have no issues that would warrant a time out.
In a home environment, the males are noisy, demanding, stubborn and into everything, Typical Cockatoo.
There is the opinion of just 2, the lesser and the greater. And the view of 3 types of Sulphur crested lesser, medium and greater. Of which I subscribe to. One of these days, I will try to set up a side to side photo for comparison.
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