Long-billed Corella

The Long-billed Corella continues to make inroads into West Gippsland (see report NoWG August 2020 LINK).

Sightings are on the increase – even in my own backyard recently.

The Long-billed Corella, Cacatua tenuirostris (tenuis = slender or thin, rostrum = bill), is a sedentary bird, monogamous and a hollow-nester, just like its Little Corella cousin.

That long top mandible is ideal for extricating corms and tubers from under the ground with Onion Grass being a favourite food.

‘Corella’ is thought to be an indigenous word – garala, garila or caralla – and ‘cockatoo’ is from the Malay kakatau and/or Dutch cacatoe. The English form of ‘cockatoo’ can be traced back as far as 1730.

While the Long-billed Corella doesn’t form such large flocks, it’s worth checking every flock of Little Corellas in our district for the appearance of a slightly larger bird, the longer bill and the brighter pink lores and throat crescent.