Male: Crown white suffused with salmon-pink. Narrow, forward-curving crest, scarlet, with central band of yellow and tipped with white. Forehead, scarlet, sides of head, nape, breast, upper belly and under wing-coverts and upper parts, including the tail, white. Undersides of flight and tail feathers strongly washed with deep salmon-pink. Eye, dark brown. Bill, bone. Feet and toes, mid-grey. Claws, darker.
Female: Similar to male but has a pale red eye. Central band of yellow in crest broader than in male in eastern subspecies.
Immatures: Similar to adults. Eye, dull brown.
Downy Young: Fine, yellow downed.
Other Scientific Names
Lophochroa leadbeateri [Christidis and Boles (2008)]
Other Names (World)
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, Pink Cockatoo, Leadbeater's Cockatoo, Desert Cockatoo, Cocklerina, Chockalott, Wee Juggler
Derivation
Cac-a-tu'-a - Latinised from Malay kakatua, ? large parrot: leadbeateri - Benjamin Leadbeater, a London naturalist
Habitat
Near water on timbered watercourses. Surrounding grasslands, gibber, saltbush. Mulga and other acacias. Satnds of native cypress, casuarinas. Larger mallee, eucalypts with suitable nest hollows. Mallee associated with riverine woodlands.
Throughout inland Australia, from southern Kimberley region and east-central Northern Territory south to central-western coast near Geraldton and southern coast at Eyre, then through inland South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales to southern Queensland.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Food
Seeds, nuts, fruits and roots, particularly of the cypress pine Callitris, and acacias.
Voice
Usual contact call, given frequently in flight, consists of a two-syllable quavering screech, similar to the Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea). Alarm call consists of three or four harsh screeches. Fledglings wheeze constantly.
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri) [XC187880]
by Marc Anderson from Wyperfeld National Park (near Big Desert), Victoria, Australia (flight call)
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri) [XC407699]
by Marc Anderson from Hattah-Kulkyne NP, Australia (call, flight call)
Nest
In a hollow limb or hole in a tree, lined at the bottom with decayed wood dust and strips of bark.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 4, usually 3; white; oval; about 39 x 30 mm. Incubation: 26 - 30 days, both sexes.
Young
Fledge in about 53 - 66 days.
Subspecies
Formerly subdivided into three subspecies, but a recent study of 22 wild-caught pairs and examination of museum skins showed that criteria for subspeciation could not be upheld, at any rate without much further study.
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