11 Mar 2012 ~ Wild Cockatoos

Listening to: Led Zeppelin ~ I Can't Quit You Baby

What a nice surprise one morning to see outside my window but a pair of Wild Cockatoos!

Skye alerted me to them by squaking up a storm, so I immediately grabbed the camera.

Although indiginous to East Timor and parts of Indoneasia, there is an introduced population here in HK common in the woods and public parks of HK Island. Their diet consists mainly of seeds, buds, fruits, nuts and herbaceous plants.

The cockatoo used in the TV series Baretta, was a Yellow-crested Cockatoo. [Trivia Game: To the first person to email me the name of Baretta's pet cockatoo, i.o.u. one dinner and drinks at a restaurant of your choice the next time we are together.]

According to Wikipedia, the large group has apparently developed from a number of caged birds that have been released into the Hong Kong skies over many years. An often repeated story is that Hong Kong Governor Sir Mark Aitchison Young released Government House's entire bird collection – including a large number of Yellow-crested Cockatoos – hours before surrendering to Japanese troops in December 1941.

http://youtu.be/v2JpqYX7aAI

The story reminds me of "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" in San Francisco (if you have not read the book or watched the documentary, I do recommend them). Interesting enough, I just read a newspaper article the night before seeing these Cockatoos that the Parrots of Telegraph Hill were "migrating" to Brisbane.

I have more [interesting] video clips, they are just taking too long to upload tonight and I need to sign off. Check back soon!