The Long-billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) is a distinctive Australian bird that can often be identified by a combination of plumage, shape, behaviour and voice. A white corella with a conspicuously long upper bill, reddish-pink colour around the face and throat, and bluish bare skin around the eye. Adults are typically about 38–41 cm long, so size can be a useful clue when you compare the bird with nearby species.
How to identify a Long-billed Corella
A white corella with a conspicuously long upper bill, reddish-pink colour around the face and throat, and bluish bare skin around the eye. When you are trying to identify one in the field, start with overall size and body shape, then check the head pattern, bill, wing markings, tail and any unusually bright colours. Lighting can change how feathers look, so it is safer to use several features together rather than relying on one colour.
Long-billed Corellas often feed on lawns or paddocks, using the long bill to dig into soil. They can gather in noisy flocks with other corellas. Behaviour is often just as useful as plumage. A bird that repeatedly uses a particular feeding style, posture or flight pattern can be much easier to identify even when it is partly hidden or too far away for a perfect view.
Where does the Long-billed Corella live in Australia?
Native to south-eastern Australia, particularly Victoria and nearby regions, with established populations in some other urban areas.
Typical habitat includes open woodland, farmland, river flats, sports fields, parks and suburban grasslands. The best places to look are areas that combine suitable food with safe roosting or nesting sites. Distribution can shift locally with rainfall, flowering, breeding seasons and food availability, so a species may be common in one district and much harder to find only a short distance away.
What does the Long-billed Corella eat?
Seeds, grains, roots, bulbs and underground plant parts dug from soil with the specialised bill. The exact menu can change with season and location. Wild birds generally do best when they can use natural food sources, so this guide describes normal feeding ecology rather than encouraging people to offer processed human food.
Watching how a bird feeds can also help with identification. Note whether it forages on the ground, probes mud, takes nectar from flowers, hunts from a perch, dives into water or catches insects in flight.
Behaviour and calls
Long-billed Corellas often feed on lawns or paddocks, using the long bill to dig into soil. They can gather in noisy flocks with other corellas.
Calls are loud, harsh and nasal, typical of corellas. Learning even one characteristic call can be extremely helpful because many Australian birds are heard before they are seen. Calls can vary with alarm, courtship, contact between flock members and time of day, so use voice together with visual clues.
Nesting and breeding
Pairs nest in hollows of mature trees, often in landscapes close to reliable feeding grounds. Breeding timing varies across Australia and can be influenced by latitude, rainfall and local conditions. If you find an active nest or dependent young, observe from a respectful distance so the adults can continue normal feeding and defence behaviour.
Similar birds
Little Corellas have a much shorter bill and usually less extensive reddish colour on the throat. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos have a dark bill and yellow crest. If you are unsure, compare bill shape, body proportions, eye colour, leg colour and voice as well as plumage. Photographs taken from different angles can be especially useful for checking difficult features after the sighting.
Quick identification tip
For a fast identification, remember three things: the bird is approximately 38–41 cm long; its key visual clue is a white corella with a conspicuously long upper bill, reddish-pink colour around the face and throat, and bluish bare skin around the eye.; and its usual Australian setting is open woodland, farmland, river flats, sports fields, parks and suburban grasslands. Those three clues will usually narrow the options quickly before you compare similar species.
Sources and further reading
For additional Australian bird information, see BirdLife Australia bird profiles and the Australian Museum bird collection.
