Western Corella

Cacatua pastinator

John Gould was the first to describe the species, in 1841.

Cacatua is based on the Malay name for cockatoo, which refers to the large bill; pastinator is Latin for trench digger, a reference to the bird’s habit of digging (with its elongated upper bill) for corms and tubers.

Frederick William Frohawk, Licimetis derbyi and Licimetis pastinator (Long-billed Corella) 1936

Author’s note: Gregory Mathews introduced the use of trinomials to Australian ornithology. It is a useful way to distinguish subspecies (races), the third name indicating the subspecies. However, in Birds of Australia, Mathews got a bit carried away with his naming and Cacatua pastinator derbyi is one of several of his names for taxa (species or subspecies) that are not considered valid. The Western Corella has no subspecies.

Confined to the far south-west of the country, the Western Corella is the largest, least common and most terrestrial of the three Australian corellas.