Yellow-crested Cockatoo

(Cacatua sulphurea)

Project Status: Active | 1998 - current

Collaborators/Funders

Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Natural Encounters Conservation Fund, Paradise Park UK, Disney Worldwide Conservation Foundation, Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam BKSDA (Nature Conservation Agency - Indonesia), Woburn Safari Park

Cockatoo species facing extinction

The Yellow-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) is Critically Endangered in the wild.

Progress and outcomes: After the Yellow-crested Cockatoo was added to CITES Appendix I in 2005 WPT and a Swiss member funded part of the work of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), to study the Citron-crested Cockatoo (C. s. citrinocristata) on the island of Sumba. The Indonesian conservation ministry PHPA at the time held a dozen confiscated birds, and the opportunity was taken to fit them with radio collars to study their movements and behaviour on release.

In 2015, WPT supported a survey that concluded that the parvula population is stable in Komodo National Park. According to park records, the population in 2015 was 695 cockatoos, up from 2010 at 558. A survey of West Nusa Tenggara province, including Moyo and Sumbawa islands, in 2016 found a population of 145 individuals, while a follow-up count in 2017 showed that the populations were stable. From 2017-2018, WPT has teamed with local officials from the Nature Conservation Agency Indonesia (BKSDA), and community non-profits, to spread awareness to local communities of the threats facing these birds. Training sessions on bird-watching and tour guiding were held so that local people may benefit from protecting the cockatoos. WPT has also collaborated in annual counts on Moyo Island.

Focus of future efforts: Ongoing conservation efforts for the species will include:

Continuing to monitor populations
Gathering data about habitat use
Qualifying existing threats to nesting cockatoos
Encouraging local people to participate in conservation through education programs
Working with local agencies to stop poaching
Hiring former trappers to protect cockatoos

With your help we can better understand the lives of these cockatoos, and work towards effective solutions to further their conservation.

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IUCN/CITES Status: Critically Endangered / Appendix I

Wild population: Fewer than 2000; introduced to Hong Kong.

Where found: The Yellow-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) is found on various islands in Indonesia – the nominate race sulphurea is found on Sulawesi, and introduced to Hong Kong and Singapore, parvula is spread out on 8 islands including Nusa Penida and Lesser Sunda Islands, abbotti is restricted to Maskambing Island and citrinocristata is found only on the island of Sumba. Feral populations in the low hundreds of C. suphurea have established in urban environments in Singapore and Hong Kong (Long 1981, Lever 1987).

History: The Yellow-crested Cockatoo was formerly common throughout Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi and other islands and the Masalembu Islands in Indonesia. Now it is confined to a few islands: in the past 40 years it has suffered massive population declines estimated at more than 80%. The nominate race and all related subspecies have been reduced to small remnant populations of only a few hundred birds scattered throughout Indonesia. Three subspecies, sulphurea, abbotti, and citrinocristata, are the most endangered.

Threats:

Overexploitation for the wild bird trade
Overharvesting of food and nesting trees and conversion of primary forest for agricultural use
Persecution as a crop pest
Possibility of introduced disease
Competition from other birds for nest sites in large trees
Unpredictable weather, leading to low breeding in either too high or too low rainfall years

Ecology: Yellow-crested Cockatoos are found up to an altitude of 1200m (3936 ft). They are found in forest edge, woodland, farmland, coconut palms, semi-arid areas and forest. They eat seeds, fruit, berries, flowers and nuts, and may also take cultivated maize. Birds are usually encountered in pairs or small groups of up to ten birds, with larger flocks forming to feed in fruiting trees, where they are noisy and conspicuous.