Tanimbar Corella or Goffin’s Cockatoo (Cacatua goffiniana) populations are suspected to be declining moderately rapidly due to trapping and habitat degradation.
In 1993, WPT secured the release of approximately 700 Goffin’s Cockatoos from trappers. A television crew had been filming on Tanimbar in Indonesia and reported to WPT that trappers were holding the birds in cages. The species had just been transferred to CITES Appendix I, making commercial trade illegal. WPT used its area contacts to pay the trappers to release the birds back into a suitable forest area. Purchasing birds from trappers is not a usual way of practising conservation, however, it was done to immediately save them. The birds were checked for disease and most of them released back into the wild.
Status: IUCN Near Threatened / CITES Appendix I
Population: Unknown, decreasing.
Threats: There are little data on population trends. This cockatoo has been heavily traded internationally and has suffered from habitat loss. May also be trapped as crop pest.
Range: The Tanimbar Corella (Cacatua goffini) is endemic to Yamdena and Larat, Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia. This cockatoo favours coastal lowland primary and secondary forests and cultivated areas.
Natural history: The ecology (behaviour and diet) of Tanimbar Cockatoo is little known. Breeding season is not known, although it is confirmed that two to three eggs are laid. Birds are usually seen singly and in pairs. At dusk, they gather at communal roosts to rest.