Project Bird Watch
The Moluccan Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) is IUCN-vulnerable in the wild due to unsustainable harvesting and habitat loss.
From 1990-2004, the World Parrot Trust supported the work of Project Bird Watch, which encourages the protection of key Moluccan Cockatoo habitat by sustainably harvesting Molucca nuts. Funds were also provided in 1995 for an expedition to Seram, and in 2001 to the nut project for processing equipment. Confiscations have taken place over the last few decades, some of which the WPT has supported.
An initiative beginning in 2024 aims to repatriate cockatoos to Maluku and carry out in-situ conservation there.
Status: IUCN Endangered / CITES Appendix I
Population: 44,000-66,000 individuals, decreasing rapidly.
Threats: This cockatoo is affected by the wild bird trade (baseline estimates suggest 4,000 birds are removed from the wild annually in domestic trade) and deforestation.
Range: Manusela National Park, Seram, and Hitu Peninusula, Ambon, Indonesia.
Natural history:  Moluccan Cockatoos favour forest and tall secondary growth in its native Manusela National Park. They are seen in pairs and small groups and are wary, but otherwise noisy and conspicuous. They are active early morning and late afternoon, keeping occupied through the day foraging for nuts, young coconut, seeds, berries and insects and their larvae.
