Food for Pink Cockatoos

We have a pair of Pink Cockatoos that visit us regularly. In Autumn they turn up for the grapes that we grow over the chook yard. Winter is apparently the time for them to flock up into foraging mobs. In Winter 2021, for the first time on our property, we saw a huge mob of 53 birds! It was actually a mob of 29, followed by a mob of 24 a few minutes later. They were just cruising around checking out our native Pine trees. I think our pair had also shared the news of a free bed, with grapes for breakfast.

In Spring, our pair shift their attention to the fruit trees. They can’t wait for the actual fruit though and relish the buds. We have given up on actually harvesting any peaches. The trees really are just for the birds. My post from Spring last year showed the birds eating Barley Grass.

What do Pink Cockatoos (normally) eat?

The critically endangered Pink Cockatoos (Lophocroa leadbeateri) live in the dry woodlands of arid and semi-arid Australia (that's our place!). They are omnivorous, eating the seeds of grasses (including Barley Grass!), Wattles and native Pine, as well as roots and bulbs, and insect larvae.

But the food I most like to see them eating is native Pine (Callitris gracilis). We plant a lot of Pine as part of our revegetation program, and we have a lot of natural regeneration established over the last 15 years. Knowing that it provides food (and eventually, nesting hollows) for Pinkies is a bonus. We are playing the long game though. Pairs of Pink Cockatoos prefer their hollows in Pine trees that are about 170 years old.

Do Pink Cockatoos disperse Pine seed?

I’ve wondered about the role Pinkies may play in dispersing Pine seed. It’s not uncommon to see Pine cones some distance from a Pine tree where they have been dropped, half-eaten, by cockatoos. I’ve noticed that whilst both Sulphur-crested and Pink Cockatoos love native Pine seed, the Sulphurs are much more destructive eaters. They completely shred the cone, presumably destroying most or all of the seed. Pinkies, on the other hand, bite off chunks and will often discard the cone, half-eaten. Perhaps the Pinkies are more likely to disperse seed than Sulphurs?

Pine cones shredded by Sulphur-crested Cockatoos

Chunks bitten from Pine cones by Pink Cockatoos. The distinctive bite pattern on the cones is one way to detect if Pinkies have been around.