“Both these species are listed as threatened in NSW and it’s possible the sulphur-cresteds are at least partly responsible.” “They are taking over nest hollows from gang-gang cockatoos and even powerful owls,” says Carol. These confident cockies are little threatened by other species and make formidable competitors for the tree hollows that other species of cockatoo and owls also require for nesting.
![gang gang cockatoo meme gang gang cockatoo meme](https://i.imgur.com/D6h0KZk.jpg)
In Sydney too, their numbers have doubled in the past 30 years, says Adrian Davis who studies parrots at the University of Sydney. But now, there are big flocks, often numbering 100 birds.” “Just three of them seemed unusual at the time. “I wrote in my notebook in 1985: ‘Three sulphur-crested cockatoos seen in Catalina Park (in Katoomba)’,” Carol says. Though they are natives to the region, their numbers have exploded to unusual levels in the last 10 years. Throughout the Blue Mountains these cockatoos – which thrive in areas of human habitation – are booming. But now it’s impossible to spend time in the Blue Mountains without seeing flocks of them.” “When I first came to live here in 1983, sulphur-crested cockatoos were a rare sight. If the outcome out here is that we are losing the normal dawn and dusk chorus, then “that’s a profound tragedy. “The cockatoos screeching at dawn and dusk drowns out the fainter, more subtle noise of smaller birds,” says Carol, which may be forcing those that rely on vocal communication to find quieter habitats away from the cockatoos. Drowning out the dawn chorus of other birds
![gang gang cockatoo meme gang gang cockatoo meme](https://tanyaloos.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/male-gang-gang-cockatoo-ambika-bone.jpg)
Occasionally, in between their calls we can hear robins, cuckoos and currawongs. Not that it seems to matter how quiet we are the cockatoos screech overhead, their yellow crests catching the last of the sun, their white wings stretched wide. We try to muffle all sound as we peer through our binoculars, scouring the trees for birds. We look up at the sandstone cliffs as it becomes darker. In the dirt there are v-shaped scratchings, meaning that a lyrebird had been here very recently. Ferns, blue gums and tall, pink-trunked angophoras line the sandy track.
![gang gang cockatoo meme gang gang cockatoo meme](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/87/83/49/87834956cdd94b7fb611108f7cf52652.jpg)
After a short walk down into the valley, we come to a creek that’s home to some scarcely seen platypus.