A Tanimbar Corella (Cacatua goffini) was caught on video in a 20m tall Starfruit Tree (Averrhoa carambola). As there were no close-up images of the corella, what it was doing there cannot be confirmed. Was it eating the leaves or even the flowers? After all the tree was in full bloom (below).
And birds do eat flowers because of the nectar found within LINK. And there is an earlier post of a bulbul eating starfruit flowers.
However, on examining the video by KS Leow (below), it could be vaguely seen at 0:09 that a corella was using its foot to grab at something. This is exactly how a parrot grabs a starfruit to eat it as seen in an earlier Blue-rumped Parrot (Psittinus cyanurus) feeding on the starfruit (above).
Tanimbar Corella is an untidy eater of these fruits as it remove chunks of the flesh to get at the seeds inside LINK.
K S Leow
Singapore
12th Dec 2019
