The Salmon-Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) is a large bird in the parrot family. It is also known as the Moluccan Cockatoo.
The Salmon-Crested Cockatoo has white-pink feathers with a peach tint, a slight yellow colour underwing and yellowish underneath its tail feathers. It has a large bright orange-red crest. It has a large grey hooked beak. The male has a dark-brown or black eyes. The female has brown to red eyes.
It measures 46-52 centimetres (18-21 inches) tall.
It is native to the Seram archipelago in South Moluccas in eastern Indonesia. It prefers lowland forests.
The Salmon-Crested Cockatoo eats seeds, nuts, and fruit. It likes coconuts. It has a strong beak that can crack very hard nuts. Sometimes, it eats insects from the ground.
It forms a pair for life. The female lays 2-3 eggs, which hatch after about 28 days.
It can live up to 90 years of age.
[Location of photographs: Dushanbe Zoo, Tajikistan]
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM