Tanimbar Corella

Tanimbar corellas weigh, on average, about 250 g (9 oz) for females and 300 g (11 oz) for males. They are about 31 cm (12 in) from head to tail. Like all members of the family Cacatuidae, the Tanimbar corella is crested, meaning it has a collection of feathers on its head that it can raise or lower. Its body is mainly covered with white feathers, with salmon- or pink-coloured feathers between the beak and eyes. The deeper (proximal) parts of the crest feathers and neck feathers are also a salmon colour, but the coloration here is hidden by the white colour of the more superficial (distal) areas of these feathers. The underside of its wing and tail feathers exhibit a yellowish tinge. The beak is pale grey and the eye colour is brown in females and black in males. The males are slightly larger, but otherwise look similar to the females. In captivity, Tanimbar corellas live up to 30 years, making them one of the shorter-lived cockatoo species.

In aviculture, the parrot is widely known as Goffin's cockatoo. Pet birds hand reared from hatching can imitate human speech, but generally they are not good talkers. They are generally quieter than the "large cockatoos", but can still be quite loud, and they have a sharp screech that some find irritating. Tanimbar corellas learn by watching and copying. Just by opening the cage door, a Tanimbar corella's attention can be drawn to the latch on its cage and it can learn by trial and error how to open the latch with its beak and escape the cage in seconds. Tanimbar corellas can destroy furniture with their beaks and can chew through wires and cause potentially dangerous electrical incidents. Hand-reared Tanimbar corellas tend to demand a lot of attention. Occasionally, captive birds of this species (like many cockatoos) develop self-destructive behaviours such as feather-plucking, or stereotypy if they do not have an interesting and enriching environment. Caged Tanimbar corellas require a frequent change of toys to play with so they do not become bored. They need time out of their cage for one-on-one social contact of at least four hours daily and also to exercise their wings and fly. Even very tame birds can bite humans when irritated or even when being excessively playful. Their droppings are semisolid and can be messy. …