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Cockatoos, Parrots and Lorikeets 3
 
   
 
About Parrots  
Speech  

Parrots do not have vocal cords, so sound is accomplished by expelling air across the mouth of the bifurcated trachea. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of trachea. So, talking parrots are really whistling in different variations. This ability has made them prized as pets from ancient time to now. In The Masnavi, a writing by an author from Afghanistan, 1250 CE, the author talks about an ancient method for training parrots to speak.
“Parrots are taught to speak without understanding the words. The method is to place a mirror between the parrot and the trainer. The trainer, hidden by the mirror, utters the words, and the parrot, seeing his own reflection in the mirror, fancies another parrot is speaking, and imitates all that is said by the trainer behind the mirror.”

Diet

The diet of parrots consists of seeds, fruit, nectar and pollen and to a lesser degree animal prey. Without question the most important of these to most true parrots and cockatoos are seeds. The evolution of the large and powerful bill can be explained primarily as an adaptation to opening and consuming seeds. All true parrots except the Pesquet’s Parrot employ the same method to obtain the seed from the husk; the seed is held between the mandibles and the lower mandible crushes the husk, whereupon the seed is rotated in the bill and the remaining husk is removed. A foot is sometimes used in order to help holding large seeds in place. Parrots are seed predators rather than seed dispersers; and in many cases where species are recorded as consuming fruit they are only eating the fruit in order to get at the seed. As seeds often have poisons to protect them parrots will consume clay in order to filter the toxic compounds. The lorikeets, Swift Parrot and Philippine Hanging parrot are primarily nectar and pollen consumers, and have tongues with brush tips to collect this source of food, as well as some changes in the gut. Many other species also consume nectar as well when it becomes available. In addition to feeding on seeds and flowers, some parrot species will prey on animals. Golden-winged Parakeets prey on water snails, and famously the Keas of New Zealand will scavenge on sheep carcases and even kill juvenile petrels. Another New Zealand parrot, the Antipodes Island Parakeet, enters the burrows of nesting Grey-backed Storm-petrels and kills the incubating adults. Some cockatoos and the Kākā will also excavate branches and wood in order to obtain grubs.

 
 
 
 
 
   
   
   
 
Galah
Cacatua roseicapilla
The Galah is one of the most abundant and familiar of the Australian parrots, occurring over most of Australia, including some offshore islands and is found in large flocks in a variety of timbered habitats, usually near water.They are becoming more abundant around areas of human habitation, with the growth in population largely a result of increasing availability of food and water. Size 35 cm.
 
 
 
Long-billed Corella
Cacatua tenuirostris
The Long-billed Corella is normally found only in the extreme south-east of Australia, however it has established populations in other parts of eastern Australia (probably from escaped cage birds). They prefer grassy woodlands and grasslands, including pasture and crops, as well as parks in urban areas .There is a small flock of Long-billed Corellas living in this area well out of their territory, they seem to be doing well so must be enjoying the climate and lifestyle, like so many of us who came from down south. Size 38-40 cm
 
     
     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
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