# Artificial nest boxes give Hong Kong's rare cockatoos new homes

> A biologist and an arborist have put 15 camera-fitted nest boxes in Hong Kong parks and schools to help critically endangered yellow-crested cockatoos, and four are already occupied.

- Published: 2026-10-28 by Tickety-Boo News
- Section: Animals
- Location: Hong Kong
- Web page: https://ticketyboonews.co.uk/stories/artificial-nest-boxes-give-hong-kongs-rare-cockatoos-new-homes/
- Original report: [Artificial nests help Hong Kong’s rare cockatoos cope with a ‘housing crisis’](https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/artificial-nests-help-hong-kongs-rare-cockatoos-cope-with-a-housing-crisis) (Mongabay)

## In brief

- HK Cockatoo Watch has installed 15 camera-fitted nest boxes in Hong Kong parks and schools since March 2025.
- Four of the boxes are occupied by cockatoo pairs, after storms and pruning removed over 60% of natural tree hollows.
- Hong Kong's roughly 200 cockatoos have high genetic diversity, which could help restore wild populations in Southeast Asia.

Hong Kong's critically endangered yellow-crested cockatoos are moving into artificial nest boxes. Of the 15 installed so far, four are now occupied by cockatoo pairs, which is rather good news for a species in serious trouble.

Fewer than 2,000 of these birds are thought to survive in the places they come from, eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Hong Kong has around 200, a tenth of that figure, and they are believed to descend from pets that escaped or were released. The city's flock is holding steady, helped by firm legal safeguards and the absence of natural predators.

Homes are the sticking point. Severe storms and tree pruning have destroyed over 60% of the natural tree hollows the footlong birds use for nesting. Astrid Andersson, a University of Hong Kong biologist doing postdoctoral research, calls the situation "a housing crisis for these birds".

Her answer was to team up with arborist and conservationist Harry Wong and found HK Cockatoo Watch. The pair took nest-box designs from Australia and altered them to suit Hong Kong's humid climate. Each box carries an internal camera, so the team can keep an eye on breeding behaviour from a distance.

Installation began in March 2025, with boxes going into public parks and onto school campuses, among them St. Louis School and ISF Academy. Students have taken part by drawing the birds for orientation booklets and photographing them during break. At St. Louis School, visual arts teacher Winster Wong contacted the conservationists after seeing a pair of cockatoos trying to dig out a nesting hole.

One box has already hosted a memorable arrival. In May, a chick was discovered inside an apartment air-conditioning vent and was placed in an artificial nest close by. Its parents found it again, and Andersson says they carried on feeding it until it was a fully fledged bird.

The work continues. Harry Wong is now reworking the PVC boxes to bring down the temperature inside and make them better places to nest.

## Why it matters

Many parrots depend on tree cavities, and cities can strip those away through storms and tree management. Replacement boxes offer the birds somewhere to nest, while the cameras give researchers a closer look at how they breed. Genetic testing has also shown that Hong Kong's cockatoos keep high genetic diversity, so looking after them could provide a vital genetic lifeline for restoring wild populations in Southeast Asia.