Palm Cockatoo, Iron Range, Cape York, Australia, 2009

This video presents scenes from an early June, 2009 safari to Cape York, Australia in search of the Palm Cockatoo, Probosciger aterrimus aterrimus, the most magnificent of all cockatoos and possibly the most beautiful of all parrots. We see first a female and then a male, the female’s mate (or at least its suitor). The male approaches her with a stick in his mouth. Male Palm Cockatoos often fashion such sticks so that they may be used as a drum and thereby capture the female’s attentions. The P