When the Australian Capital Territory adopted the gang-gang as its emblem in 1997 it was the only state or territory to feature a bird as its faunal emblem instead of a mammal. Photo: Tracey Nearmy/ANU They are a Canberra icon Many compare their call to the sound of a drawn-out creaky door.” Stacey Taylor, a Master’s student at ANU, is studying gang-gang cockatoos in the ACT. If you can’t get close enough to identify it, try listening instead. “Their most distinctive trait is their call that is often heard while they are in flight. “They are not as commonly spotted as other similar sized parrots and should certainly not be mistaken for the much more common, but also beautifully coloured, galah.” “The males boast a spectacular red head and both the males and females have a wispy crest.” “Gang-gangs are an incredibly beautiful parrot,” Taylor says. Gang-gangs, one of 14 cockatoo species in Australia, are crowd favourites for their slate-grey feathers with blushes of pink, the male’s distinctive red crest, and their quirky call. We asked our gang-gang guru what we know about the birds, what we still need to find out, and what makes these charismatic cockies special. No formal research or monitoring has been conducted about the species, says Stacey Taylor, a Master’s student at The Australian National University (ANU) who is studying the patterns of occupancy of the gang-gang across the ACT. That became clear in the 2021 Bird of the Year poll, where they finished third out of 50 Australian native birds.ĭespite their popularity, we don’t know a lot about them. They are the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory, but enthusiasm for the gang-gang cockatoo stretches far beyond the Canberra bubble.

Gang gang cockatoo pet