Cheeky cockatoos are terrorising a Sydney neighbourhood, stealing lunches and raiding bins in the early hours of the morning.
Residents from Sutherland Shire, in the city's south, have flooded 2GB's Ben Fordham with calls, sharing their experiences with the naughty, highly-intelligent birds.
One listener said the native parrots come early, long before the garbage trucks, and pull everything out of the bins.
READ MORE: Rare video shows orcas kill great white shark and eat its liver
"They come and open up the bins," they said.
"They flock, come here, and open all the bins up and in they go and they rummage and pull everyone's garbage out into the street.
"They know, they're very smart."
READ MORE: Fears world's biggest economy heading into recession
Another caller quickly backed up the story, adding deer are also causing problem with bins.
This was followed by a call from "Tim", who said the birds have learnt to unzip bags and are raiding lunchboxes at his daughter's school.
"They would open the kids' bags, they worked out how to unzip them, take their plastic lunch boxes out," he said.
"Fly them in the air and drop them and eat their sandwiches.
"It's a real mess."
He added that "almost every week" someone on his street has their bins raided and he's resorted to weighing them down with waterbottles taped to lids.
According to the Australia Museum, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo's normal diet consists of berries, seeds, nuts and roots.
It described the large, native parrots as "conspicuous".
READ MORE: Xi gives Biden fiery warning on Taiwan during two-hour phone call
The calls came just months after a resident in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges caught the white and yellow birds damaging property on CCTV.
Alli Galliott's cameras captured cockatoos gnawing and nibbling at timber in the backyard – structural beams, wooden play equipment and any other wood they can find.
The mum-of-two estimates the cockies have done thousands of dollars worth of damage.
