Escapee Palm Cockatoo sighted
Posted by BESG on 10 March 09, Tuesday
Contributed by Eric Pooi
A Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) was sighted at Upper Seletar by Eric Pooi a.k.a. ericp in early March 2009.
According to Eric, this is clearly an escapee, as “…there is a broken chain on his leg… hopefully it can survived in Singapore… Notice its wings were badly damaged though flying is still not a problem…”
Palm Cockatoo is an impressive bird in its all black plumage and spectacular crest of back-curving crest of narrow, elongated feathers. There is a prominent naked crimson cheek patch and an equally prominent grey-black bill.
Abundant in Australia, this cockatoo is not known to Singapore. We have been seeing so many escapee birds recently, so much so that this island will one day be a one big bird park.
According to Rane Wong a.k.a. reno, you need a licence to keep the bird in Singapore.
Image by Eric Pooi.
This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.
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Categories: Exotics
Comment by Subaraj
Made Thursday, 12 of March , 2009 at 9:53 am
Yup! Saw this chap at Upper Seletar Reservoir Park on February 23rd and March 3rd. Its call can be heard from quite a distance away. Palm Cockatoos do escape from time to time but none seem to survive for long.
There are so many parrot species escaping around Singapore, all the time, that no birder’s / bird photographer’s home library is complete without Parrots of the World.
Even if we only have three native parrot species!
Comment by Abiel
Made Saturday, 29 of August , 2009 at 6:30 pm
We spotted this same chap at Upper Seletar on 24 August. Looks like it’s managed to survive quite well the past 6 months. Initially thought it was a hornbill but it’s much bigger.
Comment by Jane Lee
Made Friday, 1 of January , 2010 at 11:50 pm
I saw this magnificant bird at Springleaf garden estate twice during last two weeks. It was seen flying between fruiting trees including Benjamin fig. Glad that it has manage to adapt and survived well in our local habitat.
