"We're in a difficult situation at the moment, because we don't really have much data to show that it is actually affecting the population. They will pluck off a branch in their left foot and split the fruit, delicately eating only some of the seeds, before dumping the rest unceremoniously to the ground, as is the habit of many parrots.įor thousands of years these cockies have eaten tiny seeds from the fruit of the stringy bark and bulokes, in a 18,000-kilometre-square area of land that straddles the border between Victoria and South Australia. They prefer the freshest capsules - that's the green fruit before it flowers and forms a gumnut - of very specific trees. The south-eastern sub-species of the red-tailed black cockatoos are very picky eaters, and in the now agricultural Australian landscape, that means trouble. They're some of Australia's rarest birds - and although they might've been the mascot for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, in the wild, they are rarer than lions on the African continent, or even pandas. It's as if, by some miracle of avian biology, they are held aloft more by magic than by wing beats.Ī south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo in flight is a sight to behold. They move in forward motion on longer wing strokes than seem physically possible. They look like a cross between a raven and an eagle: large, solid and dark as night. Like all black cockies, they're most often heard before seen, calling from the air as they fly, then appearing as a team of black crucifixes in the sky. These are birds that stand on the precipice of extinction.īut the high-pitched sounds made by fledgling chicks could be key to their preservation. The south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo lives in a small area, completely isolated from its closest evolutionary neighbours by huge swathes of impassable terrain. They belong to one of five sub-species of red-tailed black cockies, spread out across Australia. She is a stunner, with black feathers scalloped in yellow, red and orange that swirl into a broach on her chest and give her sub-species their name - the painted lady. He is truly glossy black as tar glistening in the heat, with a strong circle of red revealed on the tail, most visible when seen from below. The subspecies formerly occurred in large flocks, as well as singly or in small groups, probably family groups.Unusually, the female of this cockatoo species is more colourful than the male.In NSW eggs were once recorded in May in the south-eastern subspecies graptogyne, breeding occurs October to May.For other subspecies, birds usually lay only one egg, though clutches of two are occasionally recorded, and birds may re-nest after the failure of a breeding attempt.Although there is no data for NSW, they have been recorded frequently nesting in dead trees, which can have deeper hollows than live trees. Nests in tree-hollows, trunks, spouts or stumps, primarily in Eucalyptus but also in Melaleuca.They tend to feed mainly in trees in forests and woodlands, but also feed on the ground. Australia-wide, the species is known to feed mainly on seeds, particularly of species in the genera Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Acacia and Banksia, but they also eat fruit, nectar, flowers and, occasionally, insects and their larvae.In north-eastern NSW, the subspecies has been reported from dry open forest and mixed rainforest-eucalypt forest. These area were heavily cleared for agriculture and settlements, with remaining patches severely fragmented, and also degraded by logging. It is thought the most productive habitats for this subspecies were forests and woodlands of fertile riparian flats and floodplains.The NSW Scientific Committee in its final determination on the status of the species in NSW accepted only four apparently valid records all in the far north-east of the state: in the Tweed and Richmond Valleys: at Bungawalbin Nature Reserve, Round Mountain (Bogangar), Wilsons Creek (north of Alstonville), and at Cabarita. In NSW, it occurred historically at least as far south as the Bellinger River and it is likely to have extended as far south as Sydney. The nominate subspecies ( banksii) of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is now confined to northern and eastern coastal Queensland and, possibly, far north-eastern NSW. The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is the most widespread of the black-cockatoos, with five subspecies ranging broadly across northern, eastern and western Australia with and an isolated subspecies in Victoria and South Australia. For teachers, schools and community educators.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |