Adults: General plumage white with strong yellow under wings and tail. Lores, white with dull red feathering. Eye-ring, bare skin blue-grey to whitish. Eye, dark brown. Bill, bone. Feet and toes, mid-grey.
Immatures: As adults.
Downy Young: Finely yellow downed.
Other Names (World)
Little Corella, Bare-eyed Corella, Bare-eyed Cockatoo, Blood-stained Cockatoo, Short-billed Corella, Dampier's Corella
Derivation
Cac-a-tu'-a - Latinised from Malay kakatua, ? large parrot: sanguinea - L., sanguineus, bloody, referring to the pinkish suffusion on the lores, crown, cheeks and throat
Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea) [XC328095]
by Marc Anderson from Lake Broadwater Conservation Area--Wilga campground, Queensland, Australia (call)
Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea) [XC758065]
by Peter Boesman from Cumberland State Forest, Australia (flight call)
Nest
In a hole of a tree. Occasionally in a hollow in a large termites' mound.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 4; white; oval to oblong-oval; 40 - 47 x 28 - 33 mm. Incubation: probably around 24 days; by both sexes.
Young
Fledge in 59 - 64 days.
Subspecies
Alternative genus name Kakatoe now obsolete and official suppression proposed. Forms superspecies with Tanimbar Cockatoo (Cacatua goffiniana). Sometimes considered conspecific with Western Corella (Cacatua pastinator), and in past these two treated as conspecific with Long-billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris). However, on current evidence, these three forms probably best considered to constitute three separate species.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
sanguinea Gould, 1843 - Coastal and subcoastal nothern Australia, from Dampier Land and the Kimberely Divide, through the Top End of NT to head of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
gymnopis Sclater, PL, 1871 - Coastal and subcoastal WA, south of the Great Sandy Desert and most of inland eastern Australia, south of Barkly Tablelands, Selwyn Ranges and the headwaters of south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria.
normantoni (Mathews, 1917) - North-eastern Australia (western Cape York Peninsula).
transfreta Mees, 1982 - Lowlands of southern New Guinea.
westralensis (Mathews, 1917) - Murchison R, western 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