Written by the Birdsville team. Last updated November 2026.

Long Billed Corellas are clever, cheeky and affectionate Australian cockatoos, famous for their long digging beak, their love of a good chat and their clownish personality. They’re also loud, strong chewers that need plenty to do. This guide from the bird specialists at Birdsville, 684 Botany Road, Alexandria NSW 2015, trading since 1985, covers how to care for a Long Billed Corella, from cage setup and diet to toys, training and health.

To care for a Long Billed Corella, you need a large, strong cage or aviary, a diet of quality cocky mix, pellets and fresh vegetables, plenty of chew and foraging toys, and time with your bird every day. Plan for a noisy, long-lived bird that can live 40 years or more.

Long Billed Corella Quick Facts

  • Scientific name: Cacatua tenuirostris
  • Other names: Long-billed Corella, Slender-billed Corella, Corella
  • Native range: south-eastern Australia, mainly western Victoria and the Riverina in NSW
  • Adult size: around 38 to 41cm long
  • Adult weight: around 370 to 640g
  • Lifespan: commonly 40 years or more, with sources quoting up to 60 years
  • Diet type: herbivore (seed, pellets, vegetables, roots and greens)
  • Minimum cage size: 76cm long, 91cm wide and 122cm high, and an aviary is even better
  • Noise level: high
  • Talking ability: very good
  • Experience level: intermediate

On This Page

  • Do Long Billed Corellas Make Good Pets?
  • Essential Supplies
  • What Size Cage Does a Long Billed Corella Need?
  • Toys and Enrichment
  • What Do Long Billed Corellas Eat?
  • Providing Water
  • Calcium and Vitamins
  • Behaviour and Handling
  • Training and Talking
  • Common Health Problems
  • Parasite Control
  • Health, Hygiene and Safety
  • What Is Toxic to Corellas?
  • How Can You Tell if a Corella Is Male or Female?
  • Record Keeping
  • Holiday Care and Boarding
  • Transportation
  • Compatibility with Other Animals
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Recommended Avian Vets

Do Long Billed Corellas Make Good Pets?

Yes, for the right owner. Long Billed Corellas are playful, affectionate and among the best talkers of all the Australian cockatoos, often picking up words, phrases and household sounds. A hand-raised corella bonds closely with its family and loves being part of everything you do.

They do come with real challenges. Corellas are loud, especially at sunrise and sunset, and they’re powerful chewers that will test every latch, perch and toy you give them. They need several hours of attention and time out of the cage each day, and they can live for decades, so think about the long term before you commit.

Corellas also come up for rehoming from time to time. If you’d like to give an adult bird a second home, see our Sydney Pet Bird Rescue page (https://birdsville.net.au/re-homing-parrot-adoption/).

Essential Supplies for Long Billed Corellas

Housing and Enclosure

Water and Feeding

Supplements

Enrichment and Toys

Hygiene and Cleaning

Health and First Aid

Transport

What You May Consider

Every product on this page, and plenty more, is available in-store at Birdsville, where our team can help you put the right setup together. You can also order online from Petsville (https://petsville.com.au/), with delivery Australia-wide.

What Size Cage Does a Long Billed Corella Need?

A Long Billed Corella needs a strong cage of at least 76cm long, 91cm wide and 122cm high, with bar spacing of around 2 to 3.8cm. Horizontal bars are ideal, as corellas love to climb. Because they’re such active, destructive birds, an aviary is even better if you have the space.

Strength matters as much as size. Corellas can bend weak wire and are famous for working out door latches, so fit carabiner clips or locks to every door.

Setting Up Your Corella’s Cage

  1. Place the cage in a busy family room, with one side against a solid wall so your bird feels secure.
  2. Keep it away from the kitchen, draughts, air conditioner vents and heaters.
  3. Fit natural branch perches of different thicknesses at different heights.
  4. Put food and water dishes near perches but not directly underneath them, so they stay clean.
  5. Add at least four or five toys, leaving enough room for your corella to stretch and flap its wings.
  6. Skip wire grid floors where you can. Corellas love foraging on the ground, so a tray with paper or a digging box suits them better.

Outdoor Aviaries

Outdoor aviaries need shelter from rain and wind, and plenty of shade. Direct sun can overheat and kill a bird, so in a Sydney summer make sure the shade moves with the sun through the afternoon.

Toys and Enrichment for Corellas

In the wild, Long Billed Corellas spend hours digging for roots, bulbs and seeds with that long beak. A bored pet corella turns that energy into screaming, feather plucking or chewing up your house, so enrichment isn’t optional.

Good enrichment for a corella includes:

  • Wood and natural chew toys to destroy
  • Foraging toys and puzzles that hide treats
  • A digging tray of clean soil or shredded paper with treats buried in it
  • Cardboard boxes, paper and pinecones to pull apart
  • Swings, ladders and ropes for climbing
  • Fresh, washed native branches such as eucalyptus, bottlebrush and grevillea
  • Baths or a fine mist on warm days

Rotate toys every week or two so your corella always has something new to explore.

What Do Long Billed Corellas Eat?

Long Billed Corellas eat a mix of quality cocky mix, pellets and fresh vegetables. For an adult, aim for about 50% seed, 40% pellets and 10% fresh food.

Two Ways to Feed Your Corella

  1. Seed, Blend and pellets: mix Basic Cocky Mix with Birdsville Blends Cocky Mix in one bowl, with pellets in a separate bowl and fresh vegetables daily. Many customers buy both seeds and combine them, which also makes the Blend go further.
  2. Pellets and Seed Enhancer: feed pellets as the main food, with a smaller serve of seed sprinkled with Birdsville Blends Seed Enhancer (https://petsville.com.au/products/birdsville-blend-mixed-veg-seed-enhancer), plus fresh vegetables daily.

Why Birdsville Blends Cocky Mix?

Birdsville Blends Cocky Mix is our most popular blend for every cockatoo species, including corellas. It’s bagged fresh on site and packed with chillies, pumpkin, legumes, dried fruits, dried vegetables and herbs. Pumpkin and chilli are rich in vitamin A, legumes add protein, and the dried fruit and herbs bring extra vitamins and antioxidants. Our seed sells so quickly it never sits on the shelf. Be wary of many chain store mixes, which can be stale or bulked out with cheap filler seed that does nothing for your bird’s health. See the full range on our Birdsville Blends page (https://birdsville.net.au/birdsville-blends/).

Pellets

Feed pellets in their own bowl. Good choices include Vetafarm Nutriblend Large, Passwell Parrot Pellets (https://petsville.com.au/products/passwell-parrot-pellets-1kg) and Harrison’s High Potency (https://petsville.com.au/products/harrisons-high-potency-super-course-454g). Don’t top up the seed until both bowls are eaten down, and always blow the husks off the top first, as a bowl of empty husks can look full.

Feeding a Baby Corella

Never rush a young corella onto pellets. A baby given only pellets can stop eating and die. Keep seed in front of your baby at all times, with pellets available beside it, and put an extra bowl of seed on the cage floor so it can always find food. Offer a wide variety of fresh foods too, and move to the adult routine once it’s eating confidently and holding its weight.

Sprouted Seed

Sprouted seed is a great fresh food for corellas. Sprout a cocky mix, and rinse it with Aviclens before feeding to kill any bacteria. Our Best Bird Treats page (https://birdsville.net.au/bird-treats-tips-and-sprouted-mix/) explains how.

Fruit and Veggie Guide

Vegetables

Carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin, corn on the cob, broccoli, silverbeet, spinach, endive, capsicum, chilli, chickweed and seeding grasses. Whole root vegetables are great for digging and chewing.

Fruits

Apple, pear, orange and rockmelon, in small amounts a few times a week.

Treats

Walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds are high in fat, so keep them as small training rewards.

Avoid Entirely

Avocado, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, onion, garlic and salty or sugary human food.

Providing Water to Your Corella

Give fresh water every day in a heavy bowl your corella can’t tip over. Corellas often dunk their food in the water, so check it twice a day and change it whenever it’s cloudy or has food in it. Scrub the bowl daily.

Calcium and Vitamins

Calcium

Give a cuttlebone or calcium perch, and add Vetafarm Calcivet to the water, especially for birds kept indoors.

Vitamin D

A corella can’t use calcium properly without vitamin D, which it makes from direct sunlight on its feathers. Sun through window glass doesn’t count, so give indoor birds Soluvite D or a full spectrum avian light.

Vitamins

A regular boost of Vetafarm Multivet in the water helps every corella. Give it less often if your bird eats mostly pellets, as pellets already have vitamins added.

Behaviour and Handling

Give a new corella a few days to settle before you handle it much. Then start with short sessions, asking it to step up and rewarding it with a small treat.

Stick to scratches on the head and neck. Stroking the back, under the wings or near the tail can trigger hormonal behaviour in a mature bird, which often leads to screaming, biting and plucking.

Get the balance of attention right. A corella carried everywhere and given constant attention often screams the moment you leave the room. One left alone in its cage most of the day becomes bored and frustrated. Aim for a steady routine of time together, time on the play stand and time to entertain itself.

If your corella bites, stay calm and don’t yell or pull away fast, as a big reaction can reward the bite. Our Parrot Biting and Aggression page (https://birdsville.net.au/parrot-biting/) explains more, and How to Stop a Parrot Screaming and Squawking (https://birdsville.net.au/screaming-and-squawking-parrots-how-to-stop/) helps with noise.

Training and Talking

Long Billed Corellas are excellent talkers and quick learners. Many pick up words, phrases, whistles and household sounds, and they learn step up, target training and simple tricks quickly with short daily sessions of 5 to 10 minutes. Our How to Train Your Parrot page (https://birdsville.net.au/pet-bird-advice-and-training/bird-training-clicker-training-parrot-body-language/) covers training step by step.

Common Health Problems in Long Billed Corellas

Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD)

Corellas, like other cockatoos, are susceptible to Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease, a contagious virus that damages the feathers, beak and immune system. Signs include abnormal or missing feathers and a beak that looks overgrown, cracked or unusually shiny. There’s no cure. Our Common Bird Illnesses page (https://birdsville.net.au/common-bird-illnesses/) explains more.

Feather Plucking

Boredom is the most common cause, though diet, stress and hormones play a part. Our How to Stop Feather Plucking in Parrots page (https://birdsville.net.au/pet-bird-advice-and-training/feather-plucking/) covers the causes and treatment.

Obesity and Fatty Liver Disease

Corellas that pick out fatty seeds like sunflower can put on weight and develop liver problems. Weigh your bird weekly. For a bird carrying extra weight, we recommend Birdsville Blends Healthy Parrot (https://petsville.com.au/products/birdsville-blends-healthy-parrot-500g) mixed with Basic Budgie Mix (https://petsville.com.au/products/avigrain-seed-budgie-blue-2kg).

Beak Overgrowth

That long top beak needs plenty of wood to chew and ground to dig in to stay in shape. An overgrown or misshapen beak can also be a sign of liver disease or PBFD, so have it checked by an avian vet.

Signs Your Corella Is Unwell

Fluffed up feathers, sleeping a lot during the day, sitting on the cage floor, weight loss, a dirty vent, runny droppings or a change in appetite all mean your bird needs an avian vet promptly. Birds hide illness well, so act early.

Parasite Control

Worm your corella regularly and check for mites and lice, especially if it spends time outdoors. Quarantine any new bird in a separate room for 4 to 6 weeks before it meets your other birds.

Health, Hygiene and Safety

  • Daily: change the water, remove old fresh food and clean the cage tray.
  • Weekly: wash all dishes and scrub the perches.
  • Monthly: disinfect the whole cage and check it for damage.

Replace chewed-through toys and worn perches as needed.

What Is Toxic to Corellas?

As well as the foods under Avoid Entirely, watch out for:

  • Fumes from overheated non-stick pans, which can kill a bird quickly
  • Aerosol sprays, smoke, scented candles and air fresheners
  • Lead and zinc in old cages, galvanised wire, keys and cheap toys
  • Toxic houseplants
  • Open doors and windows, ceiling fans and hot stovetops
  • Cats and dogs, however friendly they seem

How Can You Tell if a Corella Is Male or Female?

Male and female Long Billed Corellas look almost the same. Some keepers look at eye colour or head size, but these aren’t reliable, especially in young birds. A DNA test is the only sure way to know. DNA Solutions (https://dnasolutions.com.au/animal-dna-testing/) offers bird DNA sexing from a feather or blood sample.

Record Keeping

Weigh your corella weekly in grams and write it down, along with worming dates, moults and vet visits. Weight loss is often the first sign of illness.

Holiday Care and Boarding

Corellas don’t cope well left alone for days, so arrange for someone to visit daily to change food and water and spend time with your bird. For longer trips, see our Bird Boarding in Sydney page (https://birdsville.net.au/parrot-bird-boarding-sydney/).

Transportation

Use a sturdy, well-ventilated carrier and cover part of it so your corella feels safe. Keep the car cool and never leave your bird in a parked car. After a move, add Vetafarm Spark Liquid to the water for a few days to help it settle.

Compatibility with Other Animals

Corellas can live with another corella or a similar-sized cockatoo if introduced slowly. Their strong beaks can seriously injure smaller birds, so never house them with budgies, cockatiels or finches. Keep them away from cats and dogs. Our guide to introducing new birds (https://birdsville.net.au/pet-bird-advice-and-training/new-avian-introductions-mixing-species/) explains how to do it safely.

Long Billed Corella Frequently Asked Questions

How long do Long Billed Corellas live?

Long Billed Corellas commonly live 40 years or more in captivity, and some sources quote up to 60 years. That makes them a lifelong commitment. A varied diet, a roomy cage, plenty of enrichment and regular vet checks all help, and it’s worth planning who would care for your bird if your circumstances change.

Can Long Billed Corellas talk?

Yes. Long Billed Corellas are among the best talkers of the Australian cockatoos. Many learn words, short phrases, whistles and household sounds, often in a surprisingly clear voice. Talking varies from bird to bird, but daily chat, repetition and patience give your corella the best chance of becoming a confident talker.

Are Long Billed Corellas noisy?

Yes, they’re loud birds, especially in the morning and evening when they make their natural contact calls. A bored corella screams much more, so plenty of toys, foraging and daily attention make a real difference. They’re usually manageable in a house, but neighbours will likely hear them in an apartment.

What should I feed a Long Billed Corella?

Feed a mix of quality cocky mix, pellets and fresh vegetables, aiming for about 50% seed, 40% pellets and 10% fresh food for adults. Birdsville Blends Cocky Mix mixed with Basic Cocky Mix makes a great base. Root vegetables like carrot and sweet potato are ideal, and avoid avocado, chocolate and salty food.

Why does a Long Billed Corella have such a long beak?

In the wild, Long Billed Corellas use their long top beak to dig up roots, bulbs and seeds from the ground. Pet corellas still love to dig and chew, so give yours a digging tray, plenty of wood to chew and root vegetables to work on. This keeps the beak in shape and your bird busy.

How can I tell if my corella is male or female?

Male and female Long Billed Corellas look almost identical, and signs like eye colour or head size aren’t reliable, especially in young birds. The only sure way to know is a DNA test, which uses a small feather or blood sample. DNA Solutions offers bird DNA sexing, or ask our team how to arrange it.

Recommended Avian Vets for Corellas in Sydney

  • SASH (Small Animal Specialist Hospital), 24/7 emergency, 5/476 Gardeners Rd, Alexandria NSW 2015, 02 8913 4000, sashvets.com
  • The Wild Vet, 22A Bridge Road, Glebe, 1300 945 383, thewildvet.com.au
  • SERV, 57-63 Herbert St, Artarmon, 02 9436 4884, exoticsvet.com.au
  • Southern Cross Veterinary Clinic, 60 Princes Hwy, St Peters, 02 9516 0234, southerncrossvet.com.au
  • Carlingford Animal Hospital, 772 Pennant Hills Road, Carlingford, 02 9871 6036, birdhealth.com.au
  • The Unusual Pet Vets, 995 Bourke Street, Waterloo NSW 2017, 02 9319 6111, unusualpetvets.com.au
  • Vetafarm (avian health products), vetafarm.com.au

Visit Us

Come and see us at Birdsville, 684 Botany Road, Alexandria NSW 2015, on the corner of Gardeners Road, or call (02) 9669 1766. We’re a small business that does things in a big way, servicing the Eastern Suburbs and Inner South Sydney, and our bird specialists are always happy to help with your corella. Follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BirdsvilleRosebery/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/petsvillesydney/) and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@birdsvillepets) for live updates.

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