For some reason, and I don’t know why, most cockatoos tend to be ‘left-footed’.
There is some evidence that the young will experiment with both right and left, but in the end, perhaps because of peer pressure, (I jest), they settle on using the left foot to handle food.
I’ve only ever seen one Sulphur Crested that appeared to be ambidextrous.
Three Little Corellas swept in over the top of a feeding flock of Galahs. I don’t think one of the Galahs even lifted up to see their arrival. The rich shoots of the short grasses must indeed have been sweet and the trio settled in to savouring the feast.
Here is an article that talks to the footedness of parrots
All three of these birds were Lefties.
This photo shows it with the foot up, but each time I moved round to get a view of it eating, it continued to turn its head and body so I only managed a slight view of it putting the food in its mouth.
Then it would turn around again with the foot up. I’m almost sure it did it deliberately to stop me getting a clear shot of the feeding process. 🙂 (Yes, I’m parrot paranoid)
Enjoy
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST 
This is, once again, a very good read—both your musings and the BBC article, David. I was quite surprised to read those comments on Flickr, when I revealed the temporary impairment of my right eye, that so many of you used your left eye. Does this mean that all these people are also left handed?
I‘m not parrot paranoid, but i never miss an opportunity to photograph one, especially if it does something interesting, as they mostly do – lovely shot of the feeding corella.
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Hi Adam, for a long time, as I’ve grown older, I believe I probably was a left-handed person, but at school we were actively taught to write right-handed. (even today my right hand is a scrawl)
Interesting how many photographers I know are left eye active.
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They are fun and fascinating birds.
Lovely to see this one .
It is interesting that they are mostly left handed.
In relation to Adam’s comment above, I use my left eye on the view finder, but am not left handed!
A little ambidextrous though!
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G’day Dave, I wonder if many of us use the camera that way as a mirror refelction of the shots in instrutcion manuals and how-to books. Who knows.
My poor old right eye was often jammed against the Nikon F and F2 advance lever that could be pulled out part way for ‘speed’
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Yes David it is interesting for their leftedness when eating, possibly the parrots feel more secure standing on their right leg. This has been the case shown with humans that we are mainly right handed but our left leg is our stronger balancing weight bearing leg, (so Mr Google says studies have shown) though mine is compromised with my left sided sciatica. Maybe he turned around because he did not want to share his food. 🙂 Enjoy your week.
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HI Ashley, interesting thought. I’d not heard of it before. I do a number of Tai Chi moves left or right footed, hadn’t noted much difference in balance, except my right knee still twinges from a car accident many years ago.
It was very sneaky about turning away from me, and I consider it was on purpose.
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Such beautiful detail of feathers and foot in this image. The foot preference among the various species is intriguing, isn’t it.
I’m one of the left-eye photographers, but am right-handed. I think in my case it was natural to me to use my left eye because my right is the weaker one – the one I screw up in sunshine for example.
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Hello Eleanor, it is amazing how the human body adapts. My mother-in-law was suffering macular degeneration and had trouble seeing the pin-pad on the teller machines. She adapted to work out where the edge of the pad was, and then she could by feel enter her pin number. Some of the family thought she was loosing her memory and had to think what the number was. To the contrary, she had actively found a way to compensate
Very soft light on a foggy day did help with the feather details 🙂
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