Little Corella

About the Little Corella

The little corella (Cacatua sanguinea), also known as the short-billed corella, bare-eyed cockatoo, blood-stained cockatoo, and little cockatoo is a white cockatoo native to Australia and southern New Guinea. It was known as Birdirra among the Yindjibarndi people of the central and western Pilbara. They would keep them as pets, or traditionally cook and eat them. The downy feathers are used in traditional ceremonies and dances where they adorn head and armbands.

The first recorded description of the species was by English ornithologist John Gould in 1843. There are four subspecies as follows: C. s. sanguinea C. s. normantoni C. s. transfreta C. s. gymnopis C. s. westralensis (Mathews 1917)

The little corella is a small white cockatoo growing to 35–41 cm (14–16 in) in length and weighs 370–630 g (13–22 oz), with a mean weight of 525 g (1.157 lb). It is similar in appearance to both the long-billed corella and the western corella, but the little corella is smaller, and unlike either of those species, it has upper and lower mandibles of similar length. It is easily distinguished from the long-billed corella by the lack of an orange throat bar. C. s. normantoni... Wikipedia →