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Greater Sulphur Crested Cockatoos in Sydney suburb 2002

How about these in your back garden?

These cockatoos ventured deeper into Australian suburbia August 2002, in search of food after months of drought.

Cockatoos invade Sydney looking for a feed

'Flocks of cockatoos from drought stricken country areas are flying hundreds of kilometres to invade
Sydney. The reason the noisy birds are literelly landing on people's doorsteps is simple - food.

Residents around Sydney's south such as Botany Bay and Cronulla, and the north shore are proving popular with the hungry cockatoos.

"They come to the greener metropolitan areas, both for the natural feeding areas and for the fact that people feed them," Des Dowling of the NSW Avicultural Society said.

There had been a sharp increase in cockatoo numbers coming to the coast as
the drought across NSW got worse, he said.

"Certainly in the last two or three months they have been coming to the outer suberbs of Sydney, the southwest and sometimes the north," he said.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service said the adaptability of birds would see them move if food was not readily available.

"We don't have a monitoring program of cockatoos at the moment, but anecdotally during droughts lots of cockatoos come to the coast," NPWS wildlife management officer Geoff Ross said.

"Many birds go to areas where there is a good feed." The imminent breeding season is another reason why many residents may be noticing an increase in the numbers of cockatoos.

"They do get together to pick mates before the breeding season which is September/October," Mr Ross said.

"It's not surprising that they are grouping together for mating about now."

The cockatoos have not won many friends in the past with residents disturbed by raucous noise and mess the birds make.

However, this behaviour was often incited by humans, the NPWS said.

"They are very adaptable...but the biggest problem that comes from feeding them is the possibility of disease and disease spreads very rapidly among birds," Mr Ross said.'

©Sydney Daily Telegraph