The Major Mitchell Cockatoo, also known as Leadbeater’s cockatoo, is the first bird of the Cacatuidae family we will introduce to you here at Parrot Facts.
This bird is commonly found in arid zones of inland Australia. It gets its common name from Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, who is quoted as saying “Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region”. It gets its scientific name, like a few other species, from natural history merchant and ornithologist Benjamin Leadbeater.
Major Mitchell Cockatoo - lophochroa leadbeateri
The Major Mitchell Cockatoo was, until recent times, mostly categorized as part of the Cacatua genus, along with many other cockatoo species. Most recently, authors have started to place the Major Mitchell cockatoo in its own monotypic genus Lophochroa, following the “independence” of the Gang-Gang Cockatoo, which had also gotten its own monotypic genus.
Although generally considered an abundant species, the Major Mitchell Cockatoo has been listed as threatened and vulnerable in Victoria, a southeastern state in Australia, its main habitat.
One Major Mitchell Cockatoo is specially famous. Cookie lives in the Brookfield Zoo, United States. He was born in 1933, just a few months before the opening of the zoo, in which he found a permanent home in front of spectators, until recently. Cookie recently retired from being displayed to general public, and his “retirement house” is the zookeeper’s office.
Major Mitchell Cockatoo video
Major Mitchell Cockatoo facts
Binomial name: Lophochroa leadbeateri. It’s nowadays common to include the Major Mitchell Cockatoo in its own monotypic genus, Lophochroa, instead of the previous attributed genus Cacatua
Scientific classification:
Family: Cacatuidae
Sub-Family: Cacatuinae
Genus: Lophochroa (or Cacatua)
Subspecies: two identified
- leadbeateri (Vigors, 1831)
- mollis (Mathews, 1912)
Conservation status: least concern
Diet: feeds mostly on the ground, especially on the seeds of native and exotic melons and on the seeds of species of saltbush, wattles and cypress pines.
Natural habitat: extensive woodlands
Sexual dimorphism: very slight. Females have a (light) reddish-brown iris with males a (dark) brown to black iris. Females also tend to have a wider yellow band in the crest
Size: about 40cm
Average lifespan: about 40 years, although it can be anywhere from 20 to 70+
