Greater Sulpher Crested Cockatoo – cacatua galerita
Length: 38-51cm/15-20 inches 
Weight: 350-500 grams
Life span: 40-60 years
Incubation: 30 days
Age at weaning: 14 weeks
Age at maturity: 3 years
Natural habitat: Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, New Guinea and offshore islands.
The Greater Sulphur Crested Cockatoo is a fairly common bird in lowland forests and savannah country. In Australia they are common inhabitants of forests, open wooland and farmland. They are noisy, conspicuous birds. Usually found in pairs or small family parties during the breeding season, at other times they are found in flocks of several hundred. Whenever they frequent open countryside they have a sentinel warning system. A few birds remain perched at the top of trees while the flock feeds on the ground below. At the approach of danger the sentinels rise into the air screeching loudly. The rest of the flock are warned and they too rise into the air.
They feed on seeds, fruits, berries, nuts, flower, leaf buds, roots as well as insects and their larvae. They are known as pests in crop-growing areas, although they do eat a considerable amount of weed seeds as well.
They nest in a hollow limb or tree trunk, generally high up and frequently near a water source. The normal clutch is 2 eggs.
The adult Greater Sulphur Crested Cockatoo is mostly white. They have a large forward curving crest which is yellow. Like the Lesser Sulphur Crested they have yellow under their wings and tail, this is easily seen when they are in flight. Their beak is black and their eye rings are white.
Sep 28, 2009 | | Birds
Scarlet Macaw – ara macaw
Length: 85cm/34 inches 
Weight: 900-1100 grams
Life span: 50-60 years
Incubation: 25-26 days
Age at weaning: 16 weeks
Age at maturity: 2.5-3 years
Natural habitat: South and Central America including Guyana, Columbia, Bolivia, Peru and Honduras
Scarlet Macaws can generally been seen in lowland tropical forests and the savannah. They are normally in pairs, family parties or small flocks. Like all macaws they have a strong pair bond. They fly daily from their roosting site directly to their chosen feeding ground.They feed on seeds, fruit, nuts, berries and leaf buds they have even been known to eat flowers and nectar. They nest in hollows, in the tallest trees and normally have a clutch of 3-5 eggs.
The plumage of the Scarlet Macaw is mostly bright red. The feathers of their lower mantle are red tipped with yellow and their scapulars are yellow with green tips. Their back and upper tail coverts are blue. Their flight feathers are blue above, olive green below and the rest of the wing red. The uppertail is red with blue tips the under tail is red. Their lores and cheeks are bare white skin which flushes when the bird is excited, and their eyes have yellow iris’s. Their upper beak is horn coloured changing to black at the tip, their lower beak is black and their legs are charcoal colour. A immature bird has a shorter tail and brown iris’s.
Sep 24, 2009 | | Birds
African Grey
Length: 33cms/13 inches 
Weight: 400-650 grams
Life Span: 40-50 years
Incubation: 28 days
Age at Weaning: 12-16 weeks
Age at Maturity: 3-4 years
Natural Habitat: Central Africa, Tanzania, Western KenyaAfrican
Grey parrots are birds of the lowland forests and coastal mangroves. They congregate in large flocks at roosting sites. They start to congregate at these roosting sites from before dusk till after night fall. Several hundred birds use the same roost. Favourite roosting sites are tall trees bordering forests, in forest clearings or on island on lakes or rivers. They tend to follow regular routes to and from roosting sites, flying high about he tree tops calling loudly. Their call consists of high pitched screams and whistles and when alarmed a harsh screech.
Their distribution is largely identical to the range of the African oil palm, the fruit of which forms the bulk of the birds diet. They frequently visit open country and savannah woodlands to feed, they also raid maize crops causing considerable damage! Their normal diet is found in the treetops, and it consists of seeds, nuts, fruits and berries.
The nesting site is usually as high as possible in a tree hollow. A normal clutch consists of 3-4 eggs, occasionally 5. Nesting is usually from July to September in Uganda, early August in the Congo, January in Nigeria and April in Liberia.
The adult plumage of the African Grey is generally a pale grey color. Feathers of the head and neck are margined with whitish grey and those of the abdomen with dark grey. The rump is very pale grey and their primaries are covered by very dark grey almost black feathers. Their tail and adjacent tail covets red and their legs are dark grey. The facial area is whitish with a bare skin patch around the eyes, their iris’s are pale grayish-yellow and their beak is black. The eyes of the younger birds are grey but change to grayish-yellow in adulthood.
Sep 15, 2009 | | Birds
