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Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.


Cockatoos looking for a feed by the side of the highway at lunchtime, Geilston Bay.

The cockies are back, and by golly they don't half make some noise! Think thirty newborns eager for a feed, and you're on your way to imagining the delight of a big flock of cockatoos.

That said, flock is entirely unsuitable as the collective noun. If pressed, the appropriate term of venery might be "an ebullience of cockatoos".

How about "an exuberance of cockatoos"?

"An imbroglio of cockatoos"?

"A seraglio of cockatoos"?

I dunno.

What do you reckon?
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Comments

smudgeon said…
A "Bob of cockatoos", I favour - Bob Hawke always reminded me of a cockie when I was a kid, and the association kind of stuck with me.
24 August 2009 at 11:59
Kris McCracken said…
Bob Hawke gave me a wave in 1990. He was with the PNG Prime Minister, but didn't mind us shouting "Hawkey, give us a wave!".

My wife has shared a BBQ with Bob too.

He certainly had a fine crest on him.
24 August 2009 at 12:18
Roddy said…
What about a cacophony of cockatoos?
24 August 2009 at 12:55
Roddy said…
I have had a beer with the man back in his drinking, A.C.T.U. days.
24 August 2009 at 12:57
Kris McCracken said…
Roddy, that could work.
24 August 2009 at 12:59
yamini said…
These are such pretty birds, almost similar to Indian parakeets (called "Tota", singular noun).

However the Indian tota is green or flourescent green in colour with a bright red beak. These are fond of green chillies. I have seen these white species for the first time.

Good luck with all the noise!
24 August 2009 at 14:42
Kris McCracken said…
Yamini, I got a good photo of some rosellas yesterday, They're green with a red head. Much smaller than a cocky though...
24 August 2009 at 14:47
yamini said…
Ohh, How lovely!! Looking forward to the photos.
24 August 2009 at 15:03
Tash said…
Insightful title!
They are very pretty, and these can be found by the side of the road??
24 August 2009 at 15:23
Kris McCracken said…
Tash, for a two month period twice a year, hundreds of these can be found EVERYWHERE around our place. By the road, up trees, by the river, on traffic islands. Wherever they can find food!

Here are some earlier photos I've posted.
24 August 2009 at 15:27
smudgeon said…
My dad used to tell us about all the stuff Bob Hawke bought us for our kitchen. Wasn't until years later that I found out he was just talking about stuff he flogged from the Navy.

I have a list at home stating the offical collective is a "crackle" or a "family" of cockatoos. Not as fitting as "cacophany", though. And for bonus points, the collective noun for lapwings ("plovers") is "a decit of lapwings". Which is much better.
24 August 2009 at 16:32
Roddy said…
It was social, not a contest.
24 August 2009 at 18:54
Kris McCracken said…
Me, most of the terms of venery people insist upon these days were made up by rich people to make fun of poor people in the nineteenth century.

Bastards.
25 August 2009 at 13:23
Kris McCracken said…
Roddy, it is never just social with Bob Hawke.
25 August 2009 at 13:23
Roddy said…
Tonights A.B.C. news has hundreds of cockatoos eating the Victorian town of Kalinda. For wild birds they seemed very tame. Eating from peoples hands, being scratched and petted. Unfortunately they are destroying any wooden structure.
27 August 2009 at 20:09
kylie said…
cockies are most definitely an imbroglio
cacophany is good, but
28 August 2009 at 22:28
Kris McCracken said…
Kylie, any idea of how they taste?
31 August 2009 at 11:41
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