| Blue-eyed Cockatoo | |
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| At Walsrode Bird Park, Germany | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Family: | Cacatuidae |
| Subfamily: | Cacatuinae |
| Genus: | Cacatua |
| Subgenus: | Cacatua |
| Species: | C. ophthalmica |
| Binomial name | |
| Cacatua ophthalmica Sclater, 1864 |
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The Blue-eyed Cockatoo, Cacatua ophthalmica, is a large, approximately 50 cm (20 in) long, mainly white cockatoo with a mobile crest, a black beak, and a light blue rim of featherless skin around each eye, that gives this species its name.
Like all cockatoos and many parrots, the Blue-eyed Cockatoo can use one of its zygodactyl feet to hold objects and to bring food to its beak whilst standing on the other foot; nevertheless, amongst bird species as a whole this is relatively unusual.
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Description
The Blue-eyed Cockatoo is a large, approximately 50 cm (20 in) long, mainly white cockatoo with an erectile yellow and white crest, a black beak, dark grey legs, and a light blue rim of featherless skin around each eye, that gives this species its name.
Both sexes appear very similar. Some males have a dark brown iris and some females have a reddish brown iris, but this small difference may not always be reliable as a gender indicator. It is easily mistaken for the Yellow-crested and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, but has a more rounded crest with more white to the frontal part, and a brighter blue eye-ring.
Habitat and status
The Blue-eyed Cockatoo is endemic to lowland and hill forests of New Britain in Papua New Guinea, and it is the only cockatoo in the Bismarck Archipelago.
Formerly classified as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN,[1] it is suspected to have become much rarer in recent times than was assumed previously. Consequently it was uplisted to Vulnerable in 2008.[2]
References
- BirdLife International (BLI) (2008). Cacatua ophthalmica. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 12 Oct 2008.
- BirdLife International (BLI) (2008): [2008 IUCN Redlist status changes]. Retrieved 2008-MAY-23.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cacatua ophthalmica |
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