Male: Head, nape and underparts pink. Back, wings and tail, light-grey. Eye, dark-brown. Skin around eye red in eastern birds and crusty-white and powdery in western ones. Bill, horn colored. Legs and feet, grey.
Female: As for male. Eye, light-red.
Immatures: In the first year, pink-grey over breast and crown.
Downy Young: Fine, pinkish-downed.
Other Scientific Names
Eolophus roseicapillus [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)], Eolophus roseicapillus [Christidis and Boles (2008)]
Other Names (World)
Galah, Roseate Cockatoo, Rose-breasted Cockatoo, Pink-and-grey Cockatoo, Pink-and-gray Cockatoo, Goulie, Rose Cockatoo, Willock Cockatoo, Willie-Willock
Voice
High-pitched, splintered 'chill, chill'. Single-note screeches in contact. Harsh screeching territorial calls. Nestlings and fledglings beg with a heavy-breathed, wheezing whine.
Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) [XC439577]
by Ramit Singal from Twelve Mile Lagoon, Lakefield National Park, Queensland, Australia (call)
Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) [XC604698]
by James Lambert from Nudgee Beach, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia (call)
Nest
In a hollow limb or hole in a tree, 2 - 20 meters above ground, lined with green leafy twigs.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 6; white; oval; 35 x 26 mm. Incubation: about 30 days; by both sexes.
Young
Fledge in 6 - 8 weeks.
Subspecies
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
kuhli (Mathews, 1912) - The Dampier Peninsula and the Kimberley Divide, through the Top End of NT, to southern coast of Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York Peninsula.
roseicapillus (Vieillot, 1817) - From WA to Eighty Mile Beach and southern fringes of the Great Sandy Desert, and east to the central ranges of NT and northern SA, which has a red eye-ring, deep pink body and very pale crown.
albiceps Schodde, 1989 - South-eastern Australia, west to Eyre Peninsula and Lake Eyre Basin, and north to about 20° south.
roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) - Western and w-central Australia.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet