Major Mitchell's cockatoo

Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo is the only Australian cockatoo that is salmon-pink below and white above. Its most prominent feature is its large white-tipped crest that is banded in red and gold. 

 They may be found  in arid and semi-arid regions of Australia, from south-western Queensland south to north-west Victoria, through most of South Australia, north into the south-west Northern Territory and across to the west coast between Shark Bay and about Jurien. In NSW it is found regularly as far east as about Bourke and Griffith, and sporadically further east than that. It is listed as Vulnerable in NSW.

Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo feed mainly on the ground in wide range of inland habitats on the seeds of native and exotic melons and also on the seeds of species of saltbush, wattles and cypress pines. Water must be nearby. Usually found in small groups, when food is abundant  larger flocks may be observed.

As other large cockatoos they rely on large old tress with hollows in order to breed as they lay their 3–4 eggs on a bed of rotting wood at the bottom of a vertical  tree hollow,  Both birds incubate the eggs and care for and feed the chicks, with young birds becoming independent from their parents when they are about 4 months old.

They are listed as vulnerable in NSW, Queensland and Victoria

Life Expectancy is 40 to 60 years in the wild.