A new study published by the Australian Burd Study Association (ABSA) found that the diet of Gang-gang Cockatoos is broad and flexible and their food is abundant. Over 4,000 feeding records from across the species’ range were collated from image-based records posted on social media and citizen science platforms, and from the written records of bird observer clubs and bird group databases.
A total of 275 different food items were recorded in 7 main groups:
- eucalypt nuts and flowers (43% of all feeding events);
- berries with relatively large seeds but a small pulp mass (21%);
- green cones of mainly the Pinaceae and Cupressaceae families (10%);
- wattles, almost exclusively in spring – early summer and on plants with green pods (8%);
- soft pods mainly of Liquidamber Liquidamber styraciflua (7%);
- nuts, mainly walnuts Juglans sp. and oak acorns Quercus sp. (3%), and
- invertebrates, mainly sawfly Pergidae sp. larvae and lerps Pysllidae sp. (1%).
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