Long-billed Corella

The Long-billed Corella is a mostly white cockatoo readily distinguished by its long, slender bill, adapted for digging. It shows a red-to-salmon patch across the forehead and lores that extends down onto the throat, along with a dark red band crossing the upper breast.

Bare skin around the eye is pale blue-grey, and the crest is short and often held flat against the head.

Key field marks

• Long, slender, pale bill, distinctly longer than that of the Little Corella
• Extensive salmon-pink to dark red markings on the forehead, lores and throat, with a red band across the upper breast
• Pale blue-grey eye-ring

Similar species

The Little Corella has a much shorter, stubbier bill and lacks the extensive pink-red facial and breast markings. The Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is larger with a prominent yellow crest, absent in the Long-billed Corella.

Range

Native to southeastern Australia, including western Victoria, southeastern South Australia and the southern New South Wales plains. Escaped or released aviary birds have established feral populations in and around Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and parts of New Zealand.

Habitat

Open grassland, woodland, farmland, and urban parks and gardens, particularly areas with grassy ground cover suitable for digging.

Movement

Largely sedentary in its native range, though it forms large, mobile foraging flocks.

Voice

Gregarious and vocal, giving loud, sharp screeching calls, especially in flight and at communal roosts.

Feeding

A ground forager that digs extensively for underground corms, bulbs and tubers, especially onion grass, often leaving patches of disturbed, pitted soil as evidence of feeding activity. Also eats grain and other seed.

Breeding

Nests in tree hollows, sometimes in loose colonies where suitable trees are clustered. Pairs typically remain together across breeding seasons.