Sydney's crafty cockatoos master suburban bin diving | Australia News - Al Jazeera English

Study in the journal Science says the gregarious birds mostly learned new behaviours by observing their peers.

In early 2018, they found from a survey of residents that birds in three Sydney suburbs had mastered the foraging technique.

“From three suburbs to 44 in two years is a pretty rapid spread,” said Major.

It started in southern suburbs and radiated outwards,” said Major.

The birds that mastered the trick also tended to be dominant in social hierarchies.

Cockatoos are extremely gregarious birds that forage in small groups, roost in large ones and are rarely seen alone in Sydney.

“Everyone in Sydney has an opinion about cockatoos,” said the Australian Museum’s Major.

“Whether you love to watch these big flamboyant social birds, or think they’re a pest, you have to respect them.