Virginia Gale, Naracoorte Community News
On President Beth Gale’s patio we all gathered together for a quick meeting as there wasn’t a lot to report. We were then joined by Skye MacPherson, Project Coordinator for South Eastern Red Tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii). She works for Birdlife Australia based in Penola. (birdlife.org.au)
The Red Tailed Black Cockatoo are on the endangered list and there are about 1500 in the South East. She had a beautiful female cockatoo that had been unable to save and had preserved for viewing and presentations and a handful of rare red tailed feathers.
She presented a PowerPoint presentation of areas the birds feed around the SE and their eating of Brown Stringy Bark and Buloak clusters after flowering. You can sometimes find areas they have been feeding in from what they call “chewings”.
You will find the ground littered with chewed clusters and leaves on the ground leaving quite a mess. As its name suggests, the Red Tailed Black Cockatoo is a cockatoo with a large black plumage and scarlet panels in the tail at least in the males.
Females have some yellow spots on their head, neck and wings and orange-yellow barring on the breast and under tail. Both sexes have dark brown eyes and brown-grey legs and feet.
Males have a dark grey bill and females have an off-white bill. The young cockatoo is called a fledging and is very similar in looks to the female until it is 4 years old and becomes an adult.
They tend to mate for life and when their partner dies they find another mate. The Red Tail Black Cockatoo inhabit a wide variety of habitats from conservation parks and woodlands, farmland, coastal and even some town areas.
One of our male guests had spotted a flock whilst walking through the Naracoorte Conservation Park near the swimming lake.
Skye did also comment that the Yellowtail Cockatoos love eating pinecones. The Red Tail Black Cockatoos are a quite a fussy bird with their eating habits and usually only produce one egg.
They find a hollow usually in a eucalyptus tree or sometimes a stringy bark tree. The female backs down to keep the egg warm which is usually close to their feeding area.
Birdlife Australia have been assembling roosting areas for red tailed black cockatoos, supplying them with nest hollows with some woodchips in the base and a large thick piece of wood to chew to represent their natural environment.
They have just got a grant to use some cameras to try and view their habits and growth hopefully. They are also placing plastic around the trunks to prevent destruction by other wildlife i.e. possums and sugar gliders.
Fact: Red Tailed Black Cockatoos are left handed.
A government incentive is being offered for any new nesting sites that are found.
BethOrtlepp thanked Skye for her wonderful presentation and time. She then joined us for an interesting yummy lunch with a little bit of seed. We also thank the men and friends that joined us.
Next month we will be hearing from Guest Speaker, Jesse Lumb on September 1st. Everyone is welcome please contact, Secretary Chloe Williams on 0459 020 673.
This article appeared in Naracoorte Community News.
