2508 REPORT
Ornithologist Richard Major with a wingtagged cockatoo. Photo: John Martin
cocky bin raiders You’ve seen Oceans 11. This is the avian version. Australian Museum ornithologist Richard Major has the lowdown on cunning cockatoos. The sulphur-crested cockatoos of 2508 are ingenious – come garbage day, they use teamwork, strong beaks and claws to lift bin lids and scatter rubbish. It is the ultimate avian heist. Some residents resort to loading bricks or rocks atop red bins. But Stanwell Park’s Renata Shanahan says, “Bricks didn’t work for us! At one point we had four and still they got in. So Gavin (long-time Stanny resident) came with drill and coat hanger and has created a little hook (pictured above). So when cockys try to lift the lid, the hook stops them, but when garbage truck tips, hook swings out to release lid. No troubles since.” The cockatoos’ behaviour is not normal, says Australian Museum ornithologist Richard Major, who lives in Coalcliff. “When I tell my colleagues about cockatoos getting into bins, we
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just don’t know of it elsewhere. Probably a couple of cockatoos have worked it out and they have transferred that knowledge onto others in the local area. They are smart birds and they are also very co-operative birds, they are gregarious birds.” Not every bin is raided, and large flocks of cockatoos aren’t seen in Coalcliff, he says. “Although I have once seen a cockatoo perched on the telegraph wire chewing on a chicken bone. Which I thought was interesting.”
What should they be eating?
Seeds, says Richard. “They like to feed down on the ground. Naturally, they should be feeding on seeds of native grasses and native herbs. They also eat fruits off trees, they’ll chew on eucalypt flowers and things like that.” The birds famously roost together at night, sometimes in flocks of several hundred. “At Helensburgh Station, there’s a big roost just to the north of the station there. They like to roost in big trees, which is also what they nest in too. Because they roost together, then forage
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