Muir’s Corella
| Muir’s corella | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Superfamily: | Cacatuoidea |
| Family: | Cacatuidae |
| Subfamily: | Cacatuinae |
| Tribe: | Cacatuini |
| Genus: | Cacatua |
| Subgenus: | Licmetis |
| Species: | Cacatua pastinator |
| Trinomial name | |
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Cacatua pastinator pastinator (Gould, 1841) |
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Muir's corella (Cacatua pastinator pastinator) is a stocky, medium-sized white cockatoo endemic to Western Australia. It was the threatened nominate subspecies of the western corella. It was removed from the WA’s threatened species list in November 2012 as a result of successful conservation efforts.
Muir's corella has mainly white plumage with an erectile white crest. The undersides of the wings and tail are yellow. The feathers between the eye and beak are deep salmon-pink, as are the bases of the feathers on the head and underparts. The eye is surrounded by a broad grey-blue eye-ring. The white feathers are often stained with soil because of the birds’ foraging activities. The corellas have a wingspan of 90 cm, and range from 43–48 cm in length and 560–815 g in weight. They have a variety of loud and raucous calls. They are very similar in appearance to Butler's corella, the only other subspecies of the western corella, being slightly larger with a longer upper mandible.
Muir's corella formerly inhabited woodlands and open country east of the main area of forest in south-western Western Australia, occurring north to the Swan and Avon Rivers, south to Albany and Augusta, and eastwards to the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges. The birds were distributed in small, widely separated colonies throughout this range. However, the population has declined and the subspecies now only occurs in the Lake Muir region where the remainder of the woodland habitat consists of fragmented remnants.
Muir’s corellas are gregarious and may be seen in flocks of from ten to a thousand birds. They have traditional roosting sites, usually in dense timber, which they leave in the morning for their feeding areas and return to at night.
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Wikipedia