Blue-eyed Cockatoo Cacatua ophthalmica

Blue-eyed Cockatoo Cacatua ophthalmica

Vulnerable

Location: Papua New Guinea

The Blue-eyed Cockatoo inhabits tropical lowland rainforest up to an altitude of 1000 m. Although it occurs in disturbed forest including degraded forest and gardens, they presumably rely on intact forest with large trees for nesting (Dutson 2011).

Rapid deforestation of #PapuaNewGuinea for #palmoil plantations has caused significant loss of habitat for the vulnerable Blue-eyed Cockatoo. Tell the brands destroying their home you won’t buy their products! #Boycott4Wildlife

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Rapid conversion of lowland forest to oil plantations over the last thirty years is likely to have caused a significant loss of breeding habitat. The major oil palm companies have committed to no further forest clearance but there is a risk that smaller companies will clear forest for oil palm. Industrial logging continues, as does clearance for subsistence gardens by the growing local populations. About 35% of habitat thought to be suitable for this species was cleared in 30 years or three generations (Buchanan et al. 2008). This species is listed as Vulnerable because remote-sensing techniques indicate that the lowland forest on which this species depends for nesting has been cleared at such a rate that the population is likely to be undergoing a rapid decline. The rate of forest loss has slowed recently, and the species may be declining at a slower rate into the future.

Rapid conversion of lowland forest to oil plantations over the last thirty years is likely to have caused a significant loss of breeding habitat. The major oil palm companies have committed to no further forest clearance but there is a risk that smaller companies will clear forest for oil palm.

IUCN Red List

Further Information

BirdLife International. 2018. Cacatua ophthalmica. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22728429A132032417. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22728429A132032417.en. Downloaded on 31 January 2021.

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