Moluccan Cockatoo

Cacatua moluccensis

RANGE Southern Moluccan and the Amboina Islands in Indonesia

HABITAT Lowland rainforests and wooded mountain slopes

DIET Fruits, nuts, and seeds

This species is also known as the salmon-crested cockatoo and rose-crested cockatoo. It raises its distinctive red crest when it is threatened to scare possible predators. It uses its salmon colored crest as a communication behavior to show happiness, curiosity, or alarm.

It has small tufts of powder down feathers, which it uses to coat and clean the remainder of its feathers. It can make a loud, shrill screeching call. Young stay in the nest until they fledge at 3 months.

The Moluccan cockatoo is vulnerable due to trapping for the pet trade and deforestation of its small range.