Yellow-crested and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

A small group of wild Yellow-crested Cockatoo live in a park of Hong Kong, very noisy bird.

[Thanks all for pointing out that leftie is Yellow-crested Cockatoo, rightie is Sulphur-crested Cockatoo]

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Comments

-Magpie- says:

i didnt realise you guys got cockatoos over there. Your right they are very noisy, but they make up for it with their charm and grace :)
Posted 57 months ago. ( permalink )

Yeah, they are not original bird of Hong Kong. Told from book that they are releasing birds many many years ago.

As I see, there may be around 20-30 of them. Btw, we got also the Rose-ringed Parakeet. :)
Posted 57 months ago. ( permalink )

omnia says:

This may be a sulphur crested cockatoo rather than yellow crested - the yellow crested have patches of colour on the cheeks as well, and are blueish around the eyes.

The yellow crested are native to indonesia, the sulphur crested native to Australia. The yellow crested also have a brighter coloured crest, almost orange. It is hard to tell from the photo which type it is.
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

CharlesLam says:

Thanks a lot for the info.

I've checked the local bird books that only Yellow-crested Cockatoo are staying around the parks here. It seems that they already did some studies about those birds.
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

Gini~ says:

Thank you for the clarification on the ID. It's great to have both birds in the field guide :)
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

omnia says:

I wonder if they sound the same? They look identical. Very interesting - thanks Charles.
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

Anita363 says:

Looks like the question isn't settled after all. Buckeye1 says www.flickr.com/groups/topic/43816/323816/ that this is actually a Sulphur-crested. I trust his opinion, & it agrees with omnia's. Perhaps you have both species loose in Hong Kong, just like you had both the Rose-ringed & the Alexandrine Parakeets. If the Sulphur-crested are more recent arrivals, they may not be listed in the books yet.
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

omnia says:

oooh - drama, intrigue, controversy in the bird field guide group! cool :)

Anita, some of the confusion may be due to the potential that both species are represented in this photo. While the one at the front clearly displays the characteristics of a SC, the one at the back could be a YC. Check out the size difference between the birds, the shorter tail on the one in the back and the possible very faint yellow patch on it's cheek. It could also be a juvenile SC, but it is possible it is a YC. The one at the front looks too large to be a YC as well as lacking the vital yellow patch. This photo may be a good and rare shot of both species together.
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

CharlesLam says:

Ha ha, really interesting story happen here.

Some additional info here may help.

Because of my poor skill, the photo is slightly overexpose, this may hidden the yellow cheeks and blue eye-ring. In other better taken photos, the yellow cheeks and blue eye-ring can be found, like this one (the colors are particular clear in the original version which cannot be shared here).

However, the birds in this photo may still be Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. Ans still cannot be reached anyway. How about replace this with my other photo of Yellow Crested Cockatoo in the Bird Guide?
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

Anita363 says:

First of all, yes, we absolutely want that other photo in the pool (we are no longer limiting it to one photo per species). I see you already posted it; thanks so much!

Yeah, I had been wondering about that size difference -- it looks quite marked. It's a little hard to tell how much of the size difference is real & how much is perspective, but it's easy to tell that the tail is proportionately much shorter on the lefthand bird.

I downloaded this photo, Photoshopped it viciously to bring out the color, & reposted the enhanced version here. (Charles, feel free to move a copy to your own photostream if you like. If you do that I will delete it from mine.)
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

Anita363 says:

Got the following response from an expert who breeds Yellow-crested (lightly edited by me for posting here). Looks like we have converged on an answer everybody is happy with: Leftie is Yellow-crested, Rightie is Sulphur-crested. Awfully cool! Charles, not only have you photographed an endangered species (the Yellow-crested), you have also photographed one that isn't known to be established in Hong Kong (the Sulphur-crested -- presumably a recent escapee from captivity). And you have them side-by-side for comparison -- otherwise we would probably never have picked up on the difference. In fact, it's possible that other Hong Kong birders have been seeing Sulphur-cresteds & mistaking them for the known population of Yellow-crested.

Thank you for an entertaining adventure in bird identification!

-Anita

--------------------------

Hello

There are feral flocks of cockatoos on Hong Kong. It is assumed that these were original wild caught birds which possibly escaped or were released. They may have been released due to the authorities finding an illegal shipment, to avoid a fine or prison sentence.

Cacatua sulphurea sulphurea, sulphurea parvula, sulphurea abbotti and sulphurea citrinocristata all originate from Indonesia. The photo with the two cockatoos look to be sulphurea sulphurea or possibly sulphurea parvula on the left and possibly galerita eleonora or less likely (because of the rarity) sulphurea abbotti.

Galerita Eleonora also originate from Indonesia, although not from the same islands.

Eleonora are classed as medium sulphur crested because of their larger size. Abbotti however are a sub species of sulphurea and they are also very large, and often mistaken for Eleonora.

It is unlikely (although possible) the cockatoo on the right is the Australian galerita galerita or greater sulphur crested, unless it was an original captive bred bird. Australia do not allow exports and have not done so since the 1960's, they are also stricter with regards to smuggling.

[Re omnia's post :]
The colour of the cheek patches differs in all the sulphureas, depending on the sub species and also it is possible they have hybridised over the years. All these cockatoos have varying white/bluish colouration around the eyes. The orange crested cockatoo referred to is the citron crested cockatoo (citrinocristata) a sub species of sulphurea.

Thanks for letting me know and sending the photos, if there any more, would be most interested to see them.

With regards

CKC BIRDS

www.ckcbirds.co.uk

===============

Anita Gould wrote:

I found your site on the web. Would you be willing to weigh in on the ID
of some wild/feral cockatoos that were photographed in Hong Kong (C.
sulphurea vs galerita)? They are here:
www.flickr.com/photos/kclama/6627777/ . There is some relevant
discussion in the comments below the photo (note that it may be a little
overexposed).

We know that Hong Kong has a pop of naturalized sulphurea; haven't found
any mention of galerita (but there could always be escapees). We think
this photo may actually show 1 of ea, but could really use an expert who
knows what juveniles look like, as well as the colors of the crests of
various subspecies.

Here is another shot we believe is a bona fide sulphurea:
www.flickr.com/photos/kclama/15073304/

Thanks either way!

Cheers,
-Anita Gould
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

CharlesLam says:

Thanks, Anita and CKC for the comprehensive info. Will try to take more photos of them. :)
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

Gini~ says:

Great to have this pair back!
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

CharlesLam says:

Happy to see U guys found this interesting. Thanks.
Posted 55 months ago. ( permalink )

City Parrots says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called City Parrots, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

TomBird2008 says:

There is an interesting episode from the BBC recently covering the feral Cockatoos of Hong Kong.

To listen, go to the following links and download the episode "Where the Buffalo Roam" : www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/docarchive/
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

CharlesLam says:

Thank a lot for the info. :D
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

mildmanneredjanitor says:

great pics. Thought you might be interested in these of a SCC, that I took last week in Hong Kong having a snack!
Interesting info about yellow crested and sulphur crested as well. We live in Mid-levels and they tend to come round and stop about 4pm each day, make a hell of a racket but a good one, have alot to say to each other!

www.flickr.com/photos/24069102@N06/
Posted 12 months ago. ( permalink )

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Yellow-crested and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Comments

-Magpie- says:

CharlesLam says:

*omnia* says:

CharlesLam says:

Gini~ says:

*omnia* says:

Anita363 says:

*omnia* says:

CharlesLam says:

Anita363 says:

Anita363 says:

CharlesLam says:

Gini~ says:

CharlesLam says:

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