Red-tipped Cockatoo

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Red-tipped Cockatoo
Free-living couple in Palawan

Free-living couple in Palawan

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Parrots (Psittaciformes)
Family : Cockatoos (Cacatuidae)
Genre : Real cockatoos ( Cacatua )
Type : Red-tipped Cockatoo
Scientific name
Cacatua haematuropygia
( Statius Müller , 1776)
The eponymous tail

The red cockatoo ( Cacatua haematuropygia ) is an endangered species of parrot that is native to almost all Philippine islands. The range of this species reaches 19 ° north latitude. The red cockatoo has the northernmost distribution of all cockatoo species. The species has become extinct in approx. 98% of its former range.

Appearance

The red cockatoo reaches a body length of 32 centimeters and is therefore the smallest species of the genus of the actual cockatoo together with the Goffin and the Solomon cockatoo . The basic color of the plumage is white. However, the hood feathers are pink at their base and yellowish feathers can be found around the nostrils. The ear spot is also pinnate yellowish white. The hand and arm wings are yellowish on the inside flags. The orange-red colored lower tail covers give it its name. The individual feathers are lined with whitish. The outer tail feathers are orange-yellow on the inner tassels. The eye ring is featherless and light bluish white. The beak is gray-horn-colored and relatively small. The iris is brown-black. The toes are gray.

The sexual dimorphism is only very slight. Females differ in their iris color, which is red-brown in them. Young animals are colored like the adult birds, but have a black iris.

Habitat and food

Manggis (Koompasia excelsa) an important breeding tree species

The red-tailed cockatoo is a species that is widespread in the Philippines. Its habitat is characterized by the tropical monsoon climate. Red-tailed cockatoos mainly colonize the forest zones, but also occur in the forest edge areas and agricultural zones. They occasionally cause considerable damage on agricultural land by plundering rice and corn fields. Regions with a large food supply are often haunted by smaller swarms. They mainly eat fruits, flowers, leaf buds, berries, and probably also insects and their larvae.

As is characteristic of forest-dwelling cockatoos, red-tipped parrots live mostly in pairs and in small groups. Swarms comprising several hundred individuals, as found in the Australian cockatoo species that inhabit tree savannahs, do not occur in the red-tipped parrots. Flocks rarely contain more than ten birds.

The clutch consists of two to three eggs. The incubation period is 30 days. Both parent birds breed. The young birds are also provided with food by both parent birds. Young birds leave the nest box around the ninth week of life.

In the context of conservation efforts, in particular data on the breeding biology of the species in the field was collected. From 1998 to 2003 a total of 166 nests in 163 trees were examined, with the exception of five breeding trees all of them had a trunk diameter of 1.0 - 1.5 m at chest height. Manggis (Koompassia excelsa) was the most popular nesting tree with 136 nests in 133 trees. Because of its smooth bark it offers a certain protection against nest predators such as monitor lizards or snakes . Red-tipped cockatoos seem to use the same nest holes for years.

Keeping in human care

Red-tailed cockatoos were first shown at London Zoo in 1854. The species is rarely kept outside of its natural range. Some specimens are kept in the Weltvogelpark Walsrode , Zoo Landau , Zoo Neunkirchen and Loro Parque on Tenerife . They are considered very aggressive and tend to eat or pluck their feathers. Socialization with parrots is not possible. They also attack other bird species. The world's first breeding of red-tipped cockatoos was achieved in 1974 by a Swiss private owner.

Existence and endangerment

Red-tailed cockatoos used to be widespread on all of the larger and many smaller islands in the Philippines , with the exception of central Luzon. In the early 1990s, the total population in the wild was estimated to be between 1,000 and 4,000 individuals. By 2008, however, the inventory had probably been reduced to less than 1,000 copies. Residual populations exist today on Palawan , Tawi-Tawi , Mindanao and Masbate . A protection program of the Katala Foundation for the red-tailed cockatoos on the island of Palawan has been running since 1998, also supported by the ZGAP . The population on the island then comprised 23 birds, now around 260 individuals live there, who fly back and forth between their nesting sites in the Rasa Island Wildlife Sanctuary (in front of Narra ) and feeding grounds on Palawan. This world's largest red-tipped cockatoo population was threatened in 2013 by a planned coal-fired power station that would have disrupted the animals' flight path. The ZGAP organized the German-language protest against the power plant. Environmentalists from the Katala Foundation and Rainforest Rescue were also involved . The power plant is now being built in a location that is harmless to the cockatoos.

BirdLife International places the species in the critically endangered category . The main threat is the illegal cage trade, where around $ 160 per bird was sold in Manila markets in 1997 and where chicks are removed from virtually every nest found. Other reasons for the rarity are the destruction of coastal habitats and the persecution as alleged pests in agriculture.

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hoppe, p. 161
  2. ↑ Michael Doll: The nest sponsorship project on Palawan ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: ZGAP-Nachrichten from May 2004, online version on the website of the Fund for Endangered Parrots accessed on March 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.papageienfonds.de
  3. ↑ Hoppe, p. 162 and p. 163
  4. ↑ Hoppe, p. 163
  5. ↑ Michael Doll: The nest sponsorship project on Palawan ( Memento of the original from June 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: ZGAP-Nachrichten from May 2004, online version on the website of the Fund for Endangered Parrots accessed on March 11, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.papageienfonds.de
  6. ↑ Hoppe, pp. 163-165
  7. ↑ Hoppe, p. 164
  8. ^ A b Peter and Indira Lacerna Widmann. "The cockatoo and the community: ten years of the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Program." BirdingAsia 10 (2008): p. 23-29.
  9. ↑ Katala Foundation
  10. ↑ http://www.zgap.de ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zgap.de
  11. ^ Coal instead of cockatoos. In: Die Rheinpfalz from March 16, 2013.
  12. ↑ [1]

literature

Web links

Commons : Cacatua haematuropygia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files