Parrots

William meets Wildlife Officer John Martin and Adrian Davis from the University of Sydney who are using Facebook to monitor the movements of dozens of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos around Sydney. -- Background Information When it comes to birds, Australia holds a special claim to world fame with many of the world’s most extraordinary species evolving right here on our ancient continent. Even the origins of the world’s birdsong can be traced back to our great land... From ancient feathered weirdo’s to modern dancing show-stoppers, Williams’ encounters with his fine-feathered friends will prove Australia always was and still is the land of birds. PARROTS Facebook cockatoos Cockies – aka Sulphur-crested Cockatoos – seem to have a taste for prime real estate and are moving into the centre and suburbs of Sydney. Adrian Davis from the University of Sydney wanted to find out more about where these birds where coming from and where they were going to. So armed with a load of wing tags and setting up a Facebook page, he started a study to track individual birds. People started spotting the cockies with tags and helping keep track of their movements via the Facebook page – even giving them names like Watermelon, Pina Colada and Party Boy! It turns out the cockies are highly mobile, and they are much more popular than their cousin the ibis in a similar tracking program – receiving 50 times the number of reports as them! Drunken lorikeets It happens each year towards the end of the dry season and the beginning of the wet in October-November in the Top End. The lorikeets here hit the turps and stumble around in a drunken haze. They are a particular type of lorikeet – the Red-collared Lorikeet, which is a sub-species of the Rainbow Lorikeet. They have bright blue heads, green wings and distinctive red markings on their neck. The drunkenness is actually a disease and is far more dangerous to the birds than a hangover is to people. About half of