Love is in the air. The John Paul Young song rings in my head every time I see flocks of sulphur-crested cockatoos flying over my home.
The cockies are noisy and chatty in flight and when I catch up with them a little later at the Waterworks Reserve the males are showing off their striking yellow crests to females, perched in the upper branches of the stately blue gums.
I have always taken the antics of the cocky cockatoos at face value but during the COVID-19 lockdown I decided to take a closer look at the cockies, along with the other common neighbourhood birds.
And with a little research to go with my own observations I came across some remarkable facts that confirm my suspicions that there is more to the cockatoos than meets the eye. The cockies are closer to us in their behaviour than we imagine.
Like humans, it appears love, sex and choice of mate are topics that never go out of fashion in the bird world, particularly that inhabited by parrots and another super-intelligent family of avians, the crows.
Although anthropomorphism, assigning human characteristics to birds and animals, is frowned upon in the zoological sciences, I have learned that our cockies have a sense of friendship and community, and are capable of showing emotion. This can include not only love and fidelity but empathy, care and compassion.
The cockie frolics in the treetops are not just about pairing up for the upcoming breeding season. It is more about establishing and maintaining a permanent bond. Rather than “casual stands” and casual relationships, these birds think long-term. And, as with humans looking for love, cockies engage in courtship, “testing” relationships over a number of years, looking for personality, to ensure they have the right partner.
Some fascinating facts about cockatoos and other parrots were given by animal behaviourist Gisela Kaplan during an interview on ABC radio last month.
Professor Kaplan, from the University of New England, pointed out on Leon Compton’s Statewide that cockatoos take up to seven years to mature sexually, not such a long period of time when it is considered they have a life-span of 80 years.
Most bird species share parenting duties – as opposed to only five per cent of mammals – but not all pair for life. In the long-lived cockies, a pair can be together for 60 years.
Research over the years has shown the term “bird brain” is outmoded when it comes to parrots and crows. They have mental faculties to rival the great apes and small children. Birds and humans might have evolved differently but their brains are capable of an intelligence that has enabled them both to conquer the world.
Another unique quality shared between birds and humans is the ability to make music. Birds might not have the spoken word but song suits this purpose and birds have to teach their young to sing as humans teach language.
With my new insight into cockies I’ve come to realise humans and birds really are in tune.