Go on admit it, we all like to read the social pages to see who’s been seen with who and it seems the biggest socialites in Canberra are …. sulphur-crested cockatoos. It’s scientifically proven by the ANU Research School of Biology.
They don’t even have social media, yet cockies are extremely social butterflies (or birds as the case may be) – one cockatoo in Canberra may encounter up to 500 other birds in a single day.
Their raucous squawk may not endear them to many humans, but they do have a friend in Dr Julia Penndorf, who is tracking the behaviour of Sydney and Canberra cockatoos in suburbia (the Clever Cockie Project).
Most Canberrans don’t need an academic to tell them that cockies are good at opening garbage bins and foraging for food around the same time we eat lunch.
However, Dr Penndorf has delved deeper to see how social behaviour spreads through the network (without Facebook).
“How did they learn the novel behaviour,” she said. “Cockatoos maintain all these differentiated relationships, despite being in this huge abundance of other individuals.”
Penndorf has noticed that the birds are much like the other inhabitants of a city. They have besties – and the occasional barny.
While it’s clear that there are distinct groups that roost around the Canberra study area, Dr Penndorf has noticed a lot of movement between these groups.
This year, she’s focusing on exploring these evolving movements, which means surrounding herself with a crackle of sulphur-crested cockatoos (yes, that’s the collective noun) and making friends with them. Not an easy task with these cantankerous birds.
During fieldwork season, Dr Penndorf can be seen on the banks of Sullivan’s Creek, sitting on the grass holding a clipboard and a Tupperware container of seeds as the sun rises over the ANU campus.
She and team members return to the same locations and observe the cockatoos every morning and evening. Luring them with birdseed, they mark the boisterous birds with temporary dye.
Alongside the ANU’s daily observations, the study uses citizen science reports of cockatoos and their behaviours. The public is encouraged to upload their own sightings and photos of marked cockatoos to the Big City Birds app. spotteron.com
