Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo

The Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri) also known as Leadbeater’s Cockatoo or Pink Cockatoo, is a medium-sized Cockatoo restricted to arid and semi-arid inland areas of Australia. It is here placed in its own monotypic genus Lophochroa, though to include it in Cacatua as others do is not wrong as long as the Corellas are also included there. They are also a type of Cockatoo.

With its soft-textured white and salmon-pink plumage and large, bright red and yellow crest, it is often described as the most beautiful of all Cockatoos. It is named in honour of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, who wrote, “Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region.”