![]() ![]() Food items are often held in the foot, which has two toes pointing forward, and two pointing backwards (a characteristic of all parrot species).ĭuring courtship, the male struts along a tree branch bowing towards the female, with his tail feathers fanned out, and his head feathers all ruffed up, giving a low, gurgling sound. Their very mobile, muscular tongue then extracts the kernel from within the seed pod. ![]() The southeastern red-tail eats the seeds of the brown stringybark ( Eucalyptus baxteri) and of the buloke ( Allocasuarina leuhmanni ).Ĭockatoos have very strong beaks which they use to break open even very hard, woody seed capsules of gum trees. It feeds on the ground, and will eat introduced species such as storksbill (Erodium), a flowering plant in the geranium family, and double-gee ( Emex australis) a noxious weed originally introduced as a vegetable. The Inland red-tail feeds on proteas, casuarinas and other small trees in the Western Australian wheat belt and arid inland. The Forest Red-tail lives in the crown of eucalypt forests, feeding mainly on the large woody seeds of the marri ( Eucalyptus calophylla). The birds are highly nomadic, moving about seasonally as different species of trees or shrubs produce their seeds. It is also especially fond of sea-almond and white cedar ( Melia azedarach). It has adapted to eating introduced species, with the seeds of Chinee Apple ( Ziziphus mauritiana) being a particular favourite. The northern sub-species of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo eats the widest variety of seeds, including those from trees, shrubs, grasses and mangroves. Their particular food preferences are specific for the different subspecies. None of these sub-species is found in Tasmania.Īll red-tails eat seeds. It is isolated and rare, living in stringybark forests on the border between southeastern South Australia and Victoria. This is the Southeastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, C. The fourth subspecies is small, with small beaks and brightly coloured females. banksii samuelli, the Inland subspecies, lives in the wheat belt of Western Australia and gum-lined river systems of inland Australia east to the Darling River. banksii naso is found in jarrah forests of southwestern Western Australia.Ī small race with small beaks and dull-coloured females, C. It is found across northern Australia from the Kimberleys in Western Australia, all around the north coast down to northeastern New South Wales.Ī smaller, large-beaked subspecies, the Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, C. Here in North Queensland is the largest sub-species, Calyptorhynchus banksii macrorhynchus. They differ in size as well as in their food preferences. There are actually four subspecies of the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, found in different parts of Australia. An adult is over 60cm long (24 in) from head to tail! This bird is also huge – one of our largest parrots. The female is duller black, with yellow speckles on the head and breast, and yellow patches in her tail. The male is jet black, with a broad band of bright red in his tail and a dark grey beak. Red-tailed black cockatoos are easily recognisable. Two noticeable features that differentiate them from other parrots are the crest on top of the head and the lack of any blue or green colouring in their feathers. Within the larger grouping of birds of the order Psittaciformes, which includes all the parrots, cockatoos form a distinct family. Thus, the scientific name means ‘Banks’ hidden beak’. The genus name banksii honours Joseph Banks, a botanist with Captain Cook. This refers to the fact the cockatoo can fluff up the feathers around its beak until it is nearly hidden. The species name Calyptorhynchus derives from the Greek words calypto meaning ‘cover’ and rhynchos meaning ‘snout’ which roughly translate to mean ‘covered beak’. ![]()
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