Animalia Life

Nymphicus hollandicus
SUBFAMILY
Cacatuinae
TAXONOMY
Psittacus hollandicus Kerr, 1792, New Holland-New South Wales. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Quarrion, cockatoo-parrot, crested parrot, weero; French: Calopsitte иlиgante; German: Nymphensittich; Spanish: Cacatъa Ninfa.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
12.6 in (32 cm); 2.6–3.5 oz (75–100 g). Slender bird with long wings and tail. Gray plumage, raised yellow crest, orange cheeks, and white wing patch. Males have brighter markings than females.
DISTRIBUTION
Interior of mainland Australia.
HABITAT
Lowlands; most types of dry, open, lightly timbered country, including farmlands and parks or gardens; favors trees bordering watercourses, and avoids dense woodland or treeless plains.
BEHAVIOR
Nomadic in north, migratory in south. Usually in small flocks, but large flocks at isolated waterholes; conspicuous in flight, showing diagnostic white wing patches; silhouette with backward swept wings; inconspicuous when feeding on the ground or perching lengthways on stout limb; roosts communally, departing at or before sunrise to assembly point in nearby tree and then to feeding area; shelters in trees during middle of day, resuming feeding in late afternoon and then drinking prior to returning to roost; more active on cool, overcast days.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feeds mainly on the ground, sometimes with other parrots, taking seeds of grasses and herbs; also takes berries and will attack grain crops.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous; mated pairs or family groups probably basic social unit; breeding influenced by rainfall, but in south mainly from August to December and in north from April to September; nest in tree hollow usually near water, and two or more nests sometimes in same tree; clutch of four or five eggs incubated by both parents; fledging at 25–30 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Generally common, locally abundant in north; in 1990s population estimated to exceed one million.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Very popular cagebird; domesticated with numerous color mutations well established in captivity.

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