By Emma

THE RED-TAILED BLACK-COCKATOO

MY RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What the Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo looks like?

What the Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo eats? Why the Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo is

endangered ? Other basic facts about the Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo

DESCRIPTION Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoos can grow up

to 65 cm’s long The male is black with a white crest, has

a large dark grey bill and it has 2 red stripes on it’s black tail

The females are a lighter black than the males, are orange-yellow speckled on their chests plus faces and have orange-yellow stripes on their tails

The male is 670 to 920 grams while the female is 615 to 870 grams

DIET Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo’s eat stringy

bark, seeds and have adapted bills to open marri nuts and extract the seeds

They also tend to eat larger fruited species of gum trees

Since humans came they have started eating double gees.

HABITAT Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo’s are widespread

and are usually found in eucalyptus woodlands or along water courses

They are found across the northern part of Australia, QLD, northern NSW, central NT and west and south west WA

THREATS The biggest threat to the Cockatoo is

habitat loss, caused by either deforestation or bush fires

Bush fire can impact on the stringy bark fruiting for up to 10 years which is one of the birds main food sources

Some other threats include lack of eucalypt breeding sites, weeds, storms and illegal poaching of chicks (baby Cockatoo’s)

BEHAVIOR/ BREEDING

The Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo’s nesting season is between March and August/September

the eggs hatch 28-30 days later The birds drink water stored in their hollow Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoos are raucous and

noisy This species sometimes fly in small flocks

with other birds or large flocks of up to 200 They fly at quite a height and are generally

shy of humans

OTHER GENERAL INFORMATION The Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo is native to

Australia Out of all the Black-Cockatoos the Red-

Tailed is the most adaptable to breeding in captivity but the rarest

It was the first Australian Cockatoo to be illustrated

The bird was illustrated by a member of the Endeavor, sailing with Captain Cook in 1770

One local male can still fly without tail feathers (mentioned in POST)

REFERENCES Books/ Magazines/Newspapers

Internet Sites

Olsen, P. (2008) Southeastern Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo, The State of Australia’s Birds 2008, 32.

Schodde, R. Tidemann, S. (1998) Complete book of Australian Birds, Readers Digest, Sydney.

Owen, M (2012) It Flies Like a Scimitar, POST Oct 13th 2012, 26.

Wikipedia. (9th August 2012). Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo, 20th August 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-TailedBlack-Cockatoo

Oiseaux-birds. (august 27th 2012) Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo, August 27th 2012, http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-red-tailed-black-cockatoo.html