Blue-eyed Cockatoo
| 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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[edit] 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.
[edit] Habitat and status
The Blue-eyed Cockatoo is endemic to lowland and hill forests of New Britain in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands 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]
[edit] 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.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cacatua ophthalmica |
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