Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) Body Length: 50–55 cm Incubation: 28 days Number of young: 1 There are 3 types of Red tailed Black Cockatoo 1.    Naso - These inhabit eucalypt and Marri forests in South-west Western Australia. 2.    Samueli - These inhabit eucalypt woodlands of mid-west Western Australia. 3.    Macrorhynchus - These inhabit forests and woodlands in northern WA. Male Red-tailed Black Cockatoos are black with two vibrant red stripes in the tail. They also have a very full crest and a black bill. Females are black but have yellow spots and yellow fringed feathers. The beak is light grey and the tail has yellow to red stripes. The subspecies differ in stature, beak size and the brightness of the female’s plumage. Of the three WA subspecies Samueli and Naso are very similar except that Samueli has a smaller beak and duller feathered female. Macrorhynchus is larger in stature and has a larger beak. The female also has mostly yellow (rather than red) bars on the tail. Red-tailed Black Cockatoos are granivores, eating mainly Marri, Banksia and Grevillea seeds and occasionally bulbs or fruit. They have strong beaks designed to crack seed cases. This species of Black Cockatoo only produces one young every second year, making it very difficult to increase the species’ numbers. Red-tailed Black Cockatoos have a very low reproductive rate which means the population cannot replace the large number of birds that have died over the years. Habitat destruction is also a major cause as cutting down trees destroys the cockatoos’ nesting sites. Feral bees compete for empty tree hollows. This ‘near threatened’ species is highly sought after as pets on the black market and many chicks are taken from nests, trees are cut down to get at the eggs and babies inside the nesting hollows. This destroys the nesting site as well. It is illegal to shoot or poach Black Cockatoos and we need to make more of an effort in the conservation of this unique Australian Wildlife. Red-tailed Black Cockatoos are also known by other names such as Naso and Karrak, and they make a ‘karrak karrak waa waa’ sound when calling.