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We Bet You Can't Name This Handsome Bird Spotted Outside Parliament House This Week

Clue: it's a kind of cockatoo.
Alex Ellinghausen

A lot happened in Parliament House in Canberra this week, but whatever.

As far as this reporter is concerned, by far the coolest thing was this bird spotted by Fairfax photographer Alex Ellinghausen right outside Parliament House, near the entrance to the House of Reps.

Naturally, he posted it on Twitter because... HELLO-OOO... BIRDS.

Aha! But what bird is that?

Well, you'll be interested to know that it's a gang gang cockatoo, which are quite common in Canberra. Go on. Make your rude jokes now. Yes, that's right. Gang gang rhymes with something else. Ha ha.

For the record, gang gangs are found in a smallish strip of south-eastern Australia, mostly in coastal or alpine forests but also in parts of cities like Melbourne and Canberra where there are abundant trees.

You generally see them in pairs, and yep, here's the lovely female. She's a little more reserved than her showy fella with his pink head. This is but one way in which these birds differ from humans.

Yum.
Alex Ellinghausen
Yum.

Another cool thing about gang gangs is the hilarious noise they make. It's kind of like a squeaky gate.

We're not exactly sure what the bird in the above video was saying, but it made a lot more sense than anything that came out of Senate Estimates this week.

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