Canberra's playful cockatoos and cheeky corellas ruffle a few feathers

Released: A tagged cockatoo is set free at the Botanic Gardens. Photo: Wolter PeetersColumbus is a real city slicker. Over six weeks, the sulphur-crested cockatoo has foraged in his regular stomping grounds of Woolloomooloo, Centennial Park and Cremorne. After dark, he prefers to roost in the Botanic Gardens, Potts Point or Rushcutters Bay Park – except for a one-night stand on the beach in Mosman.
Madonna della Vittoria, completed in 1496, is typical of the period except for one important feature – there’s an Australian bird in the background. Image by: University of MelbourneDiscovery of an animal more closely associated with Sydney than Venice is leading to a revision of early trading networks
Anna Lawrence holds a bird named Mantra, one of six exotic birds that survived after being burned during a house fire in Calgary, Alta March 15, 2014. Lawrence was visiting at the surviving birds at the vet as shown here. The parrot rescue agency lost about two dozen exotic birds in the house fire which is still under investigation. Image by: Steve LawrenceDonations have begun rolling in to help a Calgary family and the charity they run after a devastating fire killed more than two dozen parrots.
Early Saturday afternoon, firefighters were called to the home of Anna and Steve Lawrence, who head up Birdline Parrot Rescue, a charity group that rehabilitates and helps find homes for parrots and provides educational tools for bird owners.