Oil on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the front.

I’ve always wondered why this cockatoo is called Major Mitchell. I mean, who was this Mitchell guy?
Well, Major Sir Thomas Mitchell was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the 1800s and admired the species. He wrote "Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region." Although I don’t understand what a ‘voluptuous’ landscape would look like...

The cockatoo's scientific name ‘leadbeateri’ commemorates ornithologist Benjamin Leadbeater. Leadbeater was a London-based natural history merchant who supplied museums with specimens.

Random fact: The oldest recorded Major Mitchell's cockatoo died at 83 years old!