PESKY cockatoos and corellas are working up a thirst expanding their horizons.
The birds that continue to strip trees on the Loddon River at Bridgewater and Newbridge, nibbling on street lights for desert, are showing their smarts, according to new research.
Sydney’s crafty cockies, spotted prying opening wheelie bins to forage for food, have now  been spotted cooling off  by learning how to turn the handles on public drinking fountains.
Research by Max Planck Institute, University of Vienna, Western Sydney University and Australian National University published in the international journal, Biology Letters, has tracked populations of sulphur-crested cockatoos in Western Sydney and filmed their behaviour as they learned to turn the handles on water fountains and help themselves to a drink.
Across a number of local reserves and sports fields in the Western Sydney area, the cockatoos were observed over a number of weeks successfully starting the fountain’s water flow and obtaining a gulp of water 41 per cent of the time.
“We watched the cockatoos operating the drinking fountain using coordinated actions with both feet. More often than not, the bird would place one foot – mainly the right –on the twist-handle or the valve, with the other foot used to gripping the rubber spout or bubbler. Sometimes they would also use both feet on the valve,” said Dr John Martin.
“The weight of the bird would then be lowered to turn the twist-handle clockwise and keep it from springing back. We would observe the bird then turning its head to access the flowing water.”
Dr Martin said the findings show that wild cockatoos are highly successful at adapting their behaviours to the challenges and opportunities that come from living in big cities and urban areas.
Meanwhile, Bridgewater on Loddon Development says its efforts to have better management of bird numbers had hit roadblocks.
“We’re finding there needs to be a state-wide approach and that needs the support of the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action and the State Government,” said president Jill Hobbs.
“A few of our members are now talking to people in other areas (impacted by corellas) to see if a bigger voice can be formed and see a real state-wide strategy to control them.
“These birds are smart. they’ll eat anything ... they nibble on the trees, the lights, anything they can land on,” Mrs Hobbs said.