Canberra's playful cockatoos and cheeky corellas ruffle a few feathers
Submitted by Chickowee on 29 Mar 2015.
With easy pickings of fruit, berries, nuts, bulbs and seed in Canberra, cockatoos and corellas have plenty of time left to play, a hallmark of their intelligence, according to avian experts.
Biologist Tim Low notes in his best selling book, "Where Song Began: Australia's Birds and How They Changed The World", Australia's birds are the most aggressive, noisy, intelligent birds in the world. The parrot family is the smartest of them all, according to Canberra parrot expert Joe Forshaw. They distinguished themselves by continuing to learn as they grow, rather than relying solely on their instincts.
Orchardist Russell Kerrison said before flying foxes forced them to net their apple trees at Pialligo, they relied on video cameras and scare guns to keep the cockatoos out. "They are extremely clever animals," Mr Kerrison said. "They learned very quickly how to avoid us before the orchard was netted.
