[6] In Australian slang or vernacular speech, a person who is assigned to keep watch while others undertake clandestine or illegal activities, particularly gambling, may be referred to as a "cockatoo".

American ornithologist James Lee Peters in his 1937 Check-list of Birds of the World and Sibley and Monroe in 1990 maintained it as a subfamily, while parrot expert Joseph Forshaw classified it as a family in 1973.

[31] In Melanesia, subfossil bones of Cacatua species which apparently did not survive early human settlement have been found on New Caledonia and New Ireland.

[40] They differ in the presence of an erectile crest and their lack of the Dyck texture feather composition which causes the bright blues and greens seen in true parrots.

No cockatoo species are found in Borneo, despite their presence on nearby Palawan and Sulawesi or many Pacific islands,[47] although fossil remains have been recorded from New Caledonia.

[48] Some species have widespread distributions, with the galah, for example, occurring over most of Australia, whereas other species have tiny distributions, confined to a small part of the continent, such as the Baudin's black cockatoo of Western Australia or to a small island group, such as the Tanimbar corella, which is restricted to the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia.

[53] Several species have adapted well to human modified habitats and are found in agricultural areas and even busy cities.

[56] Cockatoos have several characteristic methods of bathing; they may hang upside down or fly about in the rain or flutter in wet leaves in the canopy.

Established pairs do engage in preening each other, but all forms of courtship drop off after incubation begins, possibly due to the strength of the pair-bond.

[61] These hollows are formed from decay or destruction of wood by branches breaking off, fungi or insects such as termites or even woodpeckers where their ranges overlap.

[70] Growth rate of the young, as well as numbers fledged, are adversely impacted by reduced food supply and poor weather conditions.

[7] The ground-feeding species tend to forage in flocks, which form tight, squabbling groups where seeds are concentrated and dispersed lines where food is more sparsely distributed;[72] they also prefer open areas where visibility is good.

The western and long-billed corellas have elongated bills to excavate tubers and roots and the pink cockatoo walks in a circle around the doublegee (Emex australis) to twist out and remove the underground parts.

[73] Many species forage for food in the canopy of trees, taking advantage of serotiny (the storage of a large supply of seed in cones or gumnuts by plant genera such as Eucalyptus, Banksia and Hakea), a natural feature of the Australian landscape in dryer regions.

These woody fruiting bodies are inaccessible to many species and harvested in the main by parrots, cockatoos and rodents in more tropical regions.

The glossy black cockatoo specialises in the cones of trees of the genus Allocasuarina, preferring a single species, A. verticillata.

Furthermore, galahs and little corellas competing for nesting space with the glossy black cockatoo on Kangaroo Island have been recorded killing nestlings of the latter species there.

Severe storms may also flood hollows drowning the young and termite or borer activity may lead to the internal collapse of nests.

In New South Wales, researchers and citizen scientists were able to track the spread of lid-flipping skills as cockatoos learned from each other to open garbage bins.

[88] A business in central Melbourne suffered as sulphur-crested cockatoos repeatedly stripped the silicone sealant from the plate glass windows.

Subsequent to the findings and publication of the report, these three species were declared unprotected by a Governor in Council Order under certain conditions and are allowed to be killed where serious damage is being caused by them to trees, vineyards, orchards, recreational reserves and commercial crops.

They also defoliate amenity trees in parks and gardens, dig for edible roots and corms on sports grounds and race tracks, as well as chew wiring and household fittings.

[93] In South Australia, where flocks can number several thousand birds and the species is listed as unprotected, they are accused of defoliating red gums and other native or ornamental trees used for roosting, damaging tarpaulins on grain bunkers, wiring and flashing on buildings, taking grain from newly seeded paddocks and creating a noise nuisance.

[97] The Baudin's black cockatoo, also endemic to the south-west of Western Australia, can be a pest in apple and pear orchards where it destroys the fruit to extract the seeds.

[117] Black cockatoos are rarely seen in European zoos due to export restrictions on Australian wildlife but birds seized by governments have been loaned.

[131] Cocky Bennett of Tom Ugly's Point in Sydney was a celebrated sulphur-crested cockatoo who was reported to have reached an age of 100 years or more.

[135] The earliest European depiction of a cockatoo is in the falconry book De arte venandi cum avibus, written by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.

[136] The next European depiction of a cockatoo, previously thought to be the earliest, is present in the 1496 painting by Andrea Mantegna titled Madonna della Vittoria.

[138] A cockatoo is the unlucky subject in An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by English artist Joseph Wright of Derby, its fate unclear in the painting.

[140] A visit to a Camden Town pet shop in 1958 inspired English painter William Roberts to paint The Cockatoos, in the collection of the Tate Gallery.