“There were slight variations in the way different groups were opening bins. “We discovered different subcultures,” says Australian Museum ecologist Dr Richard Major, who is a co-author of the groundbreaking study published in July 2021. This allowed the scientists to assess which birds were opening the bins and how they were doing it. The survey was then repeated in 2019, and 500 cockatoos across the suburbs of Sutherland, Helensburgh and Stanwell Park were marked with small dots of paint.

In early 2018, a team of scientists asked Sydney residents to submit videos and photos of cockatoos in their area opening household bins to scavenge food. They’ve learnt that humans aren’t a predator and aren’t to be feared.” “How many other birds do this? They are a wild animal and they are showing a behaviour that’s extremely abnormal in the animal world. “In some areas cockies will land on your hand or shoulders,” John says. Sulphur-crested cockatoos, like most parrot species, have demonstrated high levels of intelligence, which is most obvious in the ways they’ve adapted to live with humans. Brutus, on the other hand, he’s a pain in the neck and a bully’. He’s lovely and gentle and interacts with me. “We get reports from people who will say, ‘Oh, I love PartyBoy. John ran The Wingtags Project, now the Big City Birds app, which asks people to submit their sightings of bird behaviours, including individually wing-tagged birds, which are all named. Ecologist Dr John Martin who’s spent years observing sulphur-crested cockatoos in Sydney – analysing everything from their social hierarchy, advanced cognitive abilities and how they operate in human modified environments – is a witness to this.

Silver crested cockatoo