Cockatoo's in Lorne.

INTRO: We’ve been in Australia for over two years now and we’re still blown away by the sheer variety and uniqueness of the wild animals and birds that we come across whenever we venture outdoors. It is simply magical. Allow me to share some of them with you, captured by our very own camera lens. As you can tell, they do love to pose.

#2 The Cockatoo

Or as I should say, the Suplhur Crested Cockatoo, to give it its fuller and more splendid title. The beauty of Australia's bird life is the abundance of Parrots in the wild. For us Poms, the only chance we had to see them were in aviaries in the Zoos. Not so down under, where if trees are present in reasonable numbers, you will find at least one variety of Parrot. The Cockatoo is about the most common, the largest and without doubt the loudest.  You normally hear the raucous crows of "airrik, arrrk, ahrk, aierrkh, aieiriek" long before you see them. If you live close to a forest or wooded area in suburban Eastern Victoria, you really wont be needing an alarm clock. If the Kookaburra doesn't wake you, the Cockatoo certainly will.




They generally spend their days in large numbers and in forested areas, but have become quite at home in suburbia. At first glance you think the Cockatoo is a pure white beauty, with a slick yellow single feather on its head. If you get close enough to one that is on the prowl for food, showing off and trying to impress a female, that's when you'll see the stunning yellow crest extend from that single feather.

The photo above is taken near Echucha in North Victoria, whilst the photo on the left with the two birds sat on my Dad's shoulders was taken in Lorne Town Centre in a public park whilst we were enjoying a barbecue lunch! This was a first for us, and quite a crowd gathered to watch so presumably it isn't a regular party trick. That doesn't stop me expecting a 'Who's a pretty boy, then?' on our next encounter however.