Critically Endangered
Yellow-crested Cockatoo
Cacatua sulphurea
Endemic to Sumba, the citron-crested cockatoo, previously considered a subspecies of the yellow-crested cockatoo, is also similar, but presents with an orange crest.
Appearance
The yellow-crested cockatoo also known as the lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo, is a medium-sized (about 34-cm-long) cockatoo with white plumage, bluish-white bare orbital skin, grey feet, a black bill, and a retractile yellow or orange crest. The yellow-crested cockatoo is found in wooded and cultivated areas of East Timor and Indonesia's islands of Sulawesi and the Lesser Sundas. It is easily confused with the larger and more common sulphur-crested cockatoo, that has a more easterly distribution and can be distinguished by the lack of pale yellow coloring on its cheeks (although some sulphur-cresteds develop yellowish patches).
Range and habitat
Also, the yellow-crested cockatoo's crest is a brighter color, closer to orange. Endemic to Sumba, the citron-crested cockatoo, previously considered a subspecies of the yellow-crested cockatoo, is also similar, but presents with an orange crest.
The subspecies C. S. Abbotti is found only on the island of Masakambing. Its population on this tiny island (about 5 km2 or 1.9 mi2) had fallen to 10 as of June and July 2008.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
The eggs are incubated for about 28 days and the chicks leave the nest about 75 days after hatching. The yellow-crested cockatoo's diet consists mainly of seeds, buds, fruits, nuts, and herbaceous plants.
In crisis
The yellow-crested cockatoo is critically endangered. Numbers have declined dramatically due to illegal trapping for the cage-bird trade. The current population is estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals and is thought to be declining in number.
The decline results from trapping and logging, especially of mangroves (Avicennia apiculata) and kapok trees. An introduced population of these birds is found in Hong Kong.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix I. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Yellow-crested Cockatoo is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Yellow-crested Cockatoo, Wikidata item Q372906. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
