Artificial nests help Hong Kong’s rare cockatoos cope with a ‘housing crisis’.
Biologist Astrid Andersson and arborist Harry Wong built camera-equipped artificial nest boxes for Hong Kong's yellow-crested cockatoos after storms and tree pruning destroyed most of the city's natural tree hollows.
Artificial nest boxes in Hong Kong are giving shelter to yellow-crested cockatoos, a critically endangered parrot, and giving researchers a way to study them, according to Mongabay. Fewer than 2,000 of the birds remain across their native range in eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Hong Kong holds roughly 200 wild cockatoos, believed to descend from escaped or released pets.
The city's population is stable, Mongabay reports, thanks to strict legal protection and a lack of natural predators. But severe storm damage and tree pruning have removed more than 60% of the natural tree hollows the birds use for nesting. Astrid Andersson, a biologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hong Kong, called the shortage “a housing crisis for these birds.”
Andersson joined arborist and conservationist Harry Wong to start HK Cockatoo Watch. They adapted Australian nest box prototypes for Hong Kong's humid climate and fitted each box with an internal camera, so breeding behavior can be monitored remotely. Wong, who earlier spent six to seven years in bee conservation, described his aim this way: “How can we coexist with them?”
Since March 2025, the team has installed 15 boxes in public parks and on school campuses, including St. Louis School and ISF Academy. Students have taken part in the work by drawing the birds for orientation booklets and photographing them during recess. At St. Louis School, visual arts teacher Winster Wong contacted the conservationists after seeing a pair of cockatoos try to dig a nesting hole on campus.
Four of the 15 boxes are now occupied by cockatoo pairs. In May, one box became home to a chick that had been found inside an apartment air-conditioning vent. The chick was placed in a nearby artificial nest, and its parents found it there. Andersson said they fed it until it was a fully fledged bird.
Harry Wong is now modifying the PVC boxes to lower their internal temperatures and improve nesting conditions. Recent genetic testing shows Hong Kong's cockatoos retain high genetic diversity. The researchers say that protecting these urban birds could provide a genetic lifeline for restoring wild populations in Southeast Asia.
At a Glance
- Hong Kong has about 200 wild yellow-crested cockatoos, compared with fewer than 2,000 across the species' native range.
- Storms and tree pruning have eliminated more than 60% of the city's natural tree hollows used for nesting.
- Since March 2025, HK Cockatoo Watch has installed 15 camera-equipped nest boxes in parks and school campuses.
- Four of the 15 boxes are currently occupied by cockatoo pairs.
Sources
This brief was written by Brightside Report from the reporting linked above. Spot an error? Request a correction.