Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Encyclopedia
The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus) is a large cockatoo
native to the south-east of Australia
measuring 55–65 cm (22–26 in) in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage
is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yellow cheek patches and a yellow tail band. The body feathers are edged with yellow giving a scalloped appearance. The adult male has a black beak and pinkish-red eye-rings, and the female has a bone-coloured beak and grey eye-rings. In flight, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flap deeply and slowly, and with a peculiar heavy fluid motion. Their loud eerie wailing calls carry for long distances.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is found in forested regions from south and central eastern Queensland
to southeastern South Australia
including a very small population persisting in the Eyre Peninsula
. Two subspecies
are recognised, although Tasmania
n and southern mainland populations of the southern subspecies xanthanotus may be distinct enough from each other to bring the total to three. Birds of subspecies funereus (Queensland to eastern Victoria
) have longer wings and tails and darker plumage overall, while those of xanthanotus (western Victoria
, South Australia and Tasmania) have more prominent scalloping.
Unlike other cockatoos, a large proportion of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo's diet is made up of wood-boring grubs, and they also eat seeds. They nest in hollows situated high in trees with fairly large diameters, generally Eucalyptus
. Although, they remain common throughout much of their range, fragmentation
of habitat and loss of large trees suitable for nesting has caused a population decline in Victoria and South Australia. In some places Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos appear to have adapted to humans and they can often be seen in parts of urban Sydney
and Melbourne
. It is not commonly seen in aviculture
, especially outside Australia. Like most parrot
s, it is protected by CITES, an international agreement, that makes trade, export, and import of listed wild-caught species illegal.
as Psittacus funereus, its specific name funereus relating to its dark and sombre plumage, as if dressed for a funeral. The French zoologist Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest
reclassified it in the new genus Calyptorhynchus
in 1826. The genus name is derived from the Greek
words καλυπτός (calyptos) "hidden" and ῥύγχος (rhynchos) "beak".
The ornithologist John Gould
knew the bird as the Funereal Cockatoo. Other common name
s used include Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Yellow-eared Black Cockatoo, and Wylah. Wy-la was an aboriginal
term from the Hunter Region of New South Wales, while the Dharawal
name from the Illawarra region is Ngaoaraa. Scientist and cockatoo authority Matt Cameron has proposed dropping the "Black" and shortening the name to "Yellow-tailed Cockatoo", explaining that shorter names are more widely accepted.
Within the genus, the Yellow-tailed and the two Western Australian white-tailed species, the Short-billed and Long-billed Black Cockatoo, form the subgenus Zanda. The Red-tailed
and Glossy Black Cockatoos form the other subgenus, Calyptorhynchus. The two groups are distinguished by differing juvenile food begging calls and the degree of sexual dimorphism
. Males and females of the latter group have markedly different plumage, whereas those of the former have similar plumage.
The three species of the subgenus Zanda have been variously considered as two, then as a single species for many years. In a 1979 paper, Australian ornithologist Denis Saunders
highlighted the similarity between the Short-billed and the southern race xanthanotus of the Yellow-tailed and treated them as a single species with the Long-billed as a distinct species. He proposed that Western Australia had been colonised on two separate occasions, once by a common ancestor of all three forms (which became the Long-billed Black Cockatoo), and later by what has become the Short-billed Black Cockatoo. However, an analysis of protein allozyme
s published in 1984 revealed the two Western Australian forms to be more closely related to each other than to the Yellow-tailed, and the consensus since then has been to treat them as three separate species.
Within the species, two subspecies are recognised:
The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is 55–65 cm (22–26 in) in length and 750–900 grams in weight. It has a short mobile crest on the top of its head, and the plumage is mostly brownish-black with paler feather
-margins in the neck, nape, and wings, and pale yellow bands in the tail feathers. The tails of birds of subspecies funereus measure around 33 cm (13 in), with an average tail length 5 cm (2 in) longer than xanthanotus. Male furereus birds weigh on average around 731 g (1.6 lb) and females weigh about 800 g (1.8 lb). Birds of the xanthanotus race on the mainland average heavier than the Tasmanian birds; the males on the mainland weigh on average around 630 g and females 637 g (1.4 lb), while those on Tasmania average 583 and 585 g (1.3 lb) respectively. Both mainland and Tasmanian birds of the xanthanotus race average about 28 cm (11 in) in tail length. The plumage is a more solid brown-black in the eastern subspecies, while the southern race has more pronounced yellow scalloping on the underparts.
The male Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo has a black bill, a dull yellow patch behind each eye, and pinkish or reddish eye-rings. The female has grey eye-rings, a horn-coloured bill, and brighter and more clearly defined yellow cheek-patches. Immature birds have duller plumage overall, a horn-coloured bill, and grey eye-rings; The upper beak of the immature male darkens to black by two years of age, commencing at the base of the bill and spreading over ten weeks. The lower beak blackens later by four years of age. The elongated bill has a pointed maxilla (upper beak
), suited to digging out grubs from tree branches and trunks. Records of the timing of the eye ring changing from grey to pink in male birds are sparse, but have been recorded anywhere from one to four years of age. Australian farmer and amateur ornithologist John Courtney proposed that the similarity between juvenile and female eye rings prevented adult males becoming aggressive to younger birds. He also observed the eye rings to flush brighter in aggressive males. Moulting appears to take place in stages over the course of a year, and is poorly understood.
The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is distinguished from other dark-plumaged birds by its yellow tail and ear markings, and its contact call. Parts of its range overlap with the ranges of two cockatoo species that have red tail banding, the Red-tailed Cockatoo and the Glossy Black Cockatoo. Crow species may appear similar when seen flying at a distance; however, crows have shorter tails, a quicker wing beat, and different calls.
An all-yellow bird lacking in black pigment was recorded in Wauchope, New South Wales
, in December 1996, and it remained a part of the local group of cockatoos for four years. Birds with part-yellow plumage have been recorded from different areas in Victoria.
These birds are likely cases of Xanthorchromism. An image of one such bird can be found here.
(King, Flinders
, Cape Barren islands), and also on Kangaroo Island
. On Tasmania and the islands of the Bass Strait it is the only native black-coloured cockatoo. On the mainland, it is found from the vicinity of Gin Gin
and Gympie
in south and central eastern Queensland
, south through New South Wales, where it occurs along the Great Dividing Range
and to the coast, and into and across most of Victoria bar the northern and northwestern corner, to the Coorong
and Mount Lofty Ranges
in southeastern South Australia. A tiny population numbering 30 to 40 birds inhabits the Eyre Peninsula
. There they are found in Sugar Gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx
) woodland in the lower peninsula and migrate to the mallee
areas in the northern peninsula after breeding. There is evidence that birds on the New South Wales south coast move from elevated areas to lower lying areas towards the coast in winter. They are generally common or locally very common in a wide range of habits, although they tend to be locally rare at the limits of their range. Their breeding range is restricted to areas with large old trees.
The birds may be found in a variety of habitats including grassy woodland, riparian forest
, heathland
, subalpine
areas, pine plantations, and occasionally in urban areas, as long as there is a plentiful food supply. They have also spread to parts of suburban Sydney, particularly on or near golf courses, pine plantations and parks, such as Centennial Park
in the eastern suburbs. It is unclear whether this is adaptive or because of loss of habitat elsewhere. In urban Melbourne, they have been recorded at Yarra Bend Park
. The so-called "Black Saturday bushfires" in 2009 appear to have caused sufficient loss of their natural habitat for them to have been sighted in other parts if the urban areas of Melbourne as well.
Tall eucalypts that are emergent over other trees in wooded areas are selected for roosting sites. It is here that the cockatoos rest for the night, and also rest to shelter from the heat of the day. They often socialise before dusk, engaging in preening
, feeding young, and flying acrobatically. Flocks will return to roost earlier in bad weather.
The usual call is an eerie high-pitched wailing contact call, "kee-ow ... kee-ow ... kee-ow", made while flying or roosting, and can be heard from afar. Birds may also make a harsh screeching alarm call. They also make a soft, chuckling call when searching for cossid
moth larvae. Adults are normally quiet when feeding, while juveniles make frequent noisy begging calls. The Superb Lyrebird
can mimic the adult Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo's contact call with some success.
and Casuarina
, including A. torulosa
and A. verticillata
), but also Eucalyptus
(including E. maculata flowers and E. nitida
seeds), Acacia
(including gum exudate and gall
s), Banksia
(including the green seed pods and seeds of B. serrata
, B. integrifolia
, and B. marginata
), and Hakea
species (including H. gibbosa
, H. rugosa
, H. nodosa
, H. sericea
, H. cycloptera
, and H. dactyloides
). They are also partial to pine cones in plantations of the introduced Pinus radiata and to other introduced
trees, including Cupressus torulosa
, Betula pendula and the buds of elm Ulmus species. In the Eyre Peninsula, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo has become dependent on the introduced Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), alongside native species.
The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is very fond of the larvae of tree-boring beetles, such as the longhorn beetle Tryphocaria acanthocera, and cossid moth Xyleutes boisduvali. Birds seek them out all year but especially in June and July, when the moth caterpillars are largest, and they are accompanied by their just fledge
d young. They search out holes and make some exploratory bites looking for larvae. If successful, they peel and tear down a strip of bark to make a perch for themselves before continuing to gouge and excavate the larvae, which have deeply tunneled into the heartwood.
A Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo was observed stripping 4 x 2 cm (1.6 x 0.8 in) pieces of bark off a the trunk of a dead Leptospermum
tree in Acacia melanoxylon swamp near Togari in northwestern Tasmania. It then scraped a layer of white material about 0.5 mm thick from the inner surface with its beak. This white layer turned out to be hyphomycete
fungi and slime mould
that grew in the cambium
of the bark.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos have been reported flocking to Banksia
cones ten days after bushfire as the follicles open. With pine trees, they prefer green cones, nipping them off at the stem and holding in one foot, then systematically lifting each segment and extracting the seed. A cockatoo spends about twenty minutes on each pine cone.
They drink at various places, from stock troughs to puddles, and do so in the early morning or late in the afternoon. Insect larvae and Fabaceae
seeds are among food reported to have been fed to young.
by puffing up crest and spreading his tail feathers to display his yellow plumage. Softly growling, he approaches the female and bows three or four times to her. His eye ring may also flush a deeper pink. Nesting takes place in large vertical tree hollows of tall trees, generally eucalypts, which are either living or dead. Isolated trees are generally chosen, so birds can fly to and from them relatively unhindered. The same tree may be used for many years. A 1994 study of nesting sites in Eucalyptus regnans
forest in the Strzelecki Ranges
in eastern Victoria found the average age of trees used for hollows by the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo to be 228 years. The authors noted that the proposed 80–150 year rotation time for managed forests would impact on the numbers of suitable trees.
Hollows can be 1 to 2 metres (3–7 ft) deep and 0.25–0.5 metres (10–20 in) wide, with a base of woodchips. A chance felling of a eucalypt known to have been used as a nesting tree near Scottsdale
in northeastern Tasmania allowed accurate measurements to be made, yielding a hollow measuring 56 cm (22 in) high by 30 cm (12 in) wide at the mouth, and at least 65 cm (26 in) deep, in a tree which measured 72 cm (29 in) in diameter below the hollow. Both the male and female prepare the hollow for breeding, which involves peeling or scraping off wood shavings from the inside the hollow to prepare bedding for the eggs. Gum leaves are occasionally added as well. The clutch consists of one or two white lustreless rounded oval eggs which may have the occasional lime nodule. The first egg averages around 47 or 48 mm long and 37 mm in diameter (2 × 1.4 in). The second egg is around 2 mm smaller all over and is laid two to seven days later. The female incubates
the eggs alone and begins after the completion of laying. She enters the hollow feet first, and is visited by the male who brings food two to four times a day. Later both parents help to raise the chicks. The second chick is neglected and usually perishes in infancy. Information on the breeding of birds in the wild is lacking; however, the incubation period in captivity is 28–31 days. Newly hatched chicks are covered with yellow down
and have pink beaks that fade to a greyish white by the time of fledging. Chicks fledge from the nest three months after hatching, and remain in the company of their parents until the next breeding season.
Like other cockatoos, this species is long-lived. A pair of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos at Rotterdam Zoo
stopped breeding when they were 41 and 37 years of age, but still showed signs of close bonding. Birds appear to reach sexual maturity
between four and six years of age; this is the age range of breeding recorded in captivity.
s (Podargus strigoides) suffering neurological symptoms were shown to be hosting the rat nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis. They were the first non-mammalian hosts discovered for the organism. A species of feather mite, Psittophagus calyptorhynchi, has also been isolated from the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, its only host to date.
which might have prevented cockatoos from damaging younger trees. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos were shot as pests in some districts of New South Wales until the 1940s because of this.
Although it is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and not listed nationally as threatened, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is declining in numbers in Victoria and South Australia. This is due to habitat fragmentation
and loss of large trees used for breeding hollows, although birds have become more plentiful in the vicinity of pine plantations. It has been listed as vulnerable in South Australia, due to its decline in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges
, and particularly the perilous status of the small isolated population on the Eyre Peninsula, which has declined sharply since European settlement, probably from loss of suitable habitat. A recovery program was commenced in 1998. Efforts to increase the population include fencing off remnants of native bushland, planting food plants such as Hakea rugosa, monitoring breeding, and raising chicks in captivity. As a result, the population has increased from a low of 19–21 individuals in 1998.
This species was seldom seen in captivity before the late 1950s, after which time a large number of wild-caught birds entered the Australian market. Since then, it has become more common, but is still rarely seen outside Australia. Captive Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos require a large aviary
to avoid apathy and poor health. There is some evidence that protein may be more important to them than to other cockatoos, and low protein has been linked with the production of yolkless eggs in captivity. Females in particular enjoy mealworm
s. They can be placid and tolerate sharing an enclosure with smaller parrots, but do not handle disturbance while breeding. As with other black cockatoos, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos are rarely seen in European zoos, since Australia restricted exportation of wildlife in 1959, but birds seized by government agencies in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have been loaned to zoos that are members of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
(EAZA). In 2000, there were pairs of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos in Puerto de la Cruz
zoo in Spain and in Rotterdam. Like most species of parrot
s, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) with its placement on the Appendix II list of vulnerable species, which makes the import, export, and trade of listed wild-caught animals illegal.
Cockatoo
A cockatoo is any of the 21 species belonging to the bird family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae and the Strigopidae , they make up the parrot order Psittaciformes . Placement of the cockatoos as a separate family is fairly undisputed, although many aspects of the other living lineages of...
native to the south-east of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
measuring 55–65 cm (22–26 in) in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yellow cheek patches and a yellow tail band. The body feathers are edged with yellow giving a scalloped appearance. The adult male has a black beak and pinkish-red eye-rings, and the female has a bone-coloured beak and grey eye-rings. In flight, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flap deeply and slowly, and with a peculiar heavy fluid motion. Their loud eerie wailing calls carry for long distances.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is found in forested regions from south and central eastern Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
to southeastern South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
including a very small population persisting in the Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
. Two subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
are recognised, although Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
n and southern mainland populations of the southern subspecies xanthanotus may be distinct enough from each other to bring the total to three. Birds of subspecies funereus (Queensland to eastern Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
) have longer wings and tails and darker plumage overall, while those of xanthanotus (western Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, South Australia and Tasmania) have more prominent scalloping.
Unlike other cockatoos, a large proportion of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo's diet is made up of wood-boring grubs, and they also eat seeds. They nest in hollows situated high in trees with fairly large diameters, generally Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
. Although, they remain common throughout much of their range, fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation as the name implies, describes the emergence of discontinuities in an organism's preferred environment , causing population fragmentation...
of habitat and loss of large trees suitable for nesting has caused a population decline in Victoria and South Australia. In some places Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos appear to have adapted to humans and they can often be seen in parts of urban Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. It is not commonly seen in aviculture
Aviculture
Aviculture is the practice of keeping and breeding birds and the culture that forms around it. Aviculture is generally focused on not only the raising and breeding of birds, but also on preserving avian habitat, and public awareness campaigns....
, especially outside Australia. Like most parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
s, it is protected by CITES, an international agreement, that makes trade, export, and import of listed wild-caught species illegal.
Taxonomy and naming
The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo was first described in 1794 by the English naturalist George ShawGeorge Shaw
George Shaw was an English botanist and zoologist.Shaw was born at Bierton, Buckinghamshire and was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, receiving his M.A. in 1772. He took up the profession of medical practitioner. In 1786 he became the assistant lecturer in botany at Oxford University...
as Psittacus funereus, its specific name funereus relating to its dark and sombre plumage, as if dressed for a funeral. The French zoologist Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest
Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest
Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest was a French zoologist and author. He was the son of Nicolas Desmarest and father of Anselme Sébastien Léon Desmarest...
reclassified it in the new genus Calyptorhynchus
Calyptorhynchus
Described by French naturalist Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest in 1826, the genus Calyptorhynchus has five species. They are all mostly black in colour, and the taxa may be differentiated partly by size and partly by small areas of red, grey and yellow plumage especially in the tail feathers...
in 1826. The genus name is derived from the Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
words καλυπτός (calyptos) "hidden" and ῥύγχος (rhynchos) "beak".
The ornithologist John Gould
John Gould
John Gould was an English ornithologist and bird artist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
knew the bird as the Funereal Cockatoo. Other common name
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
s used include Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Yellow-eared Black Cockatoo, and Wylah. Wy-la was an aboriginal
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
term from the Hunter Region of New South Wales, while the Dharawal
Tharawal language
Tharawal is an Australian Aboriginal language.-Classification:Southern New South Wales groupClans and Families of The Northern Dharawal*Noron-Geragal*Targarigal*Goonamattagal*Wodi Wodi...
name from the Illawarra region is Ngaoaraa. Scientist and cockatoo authority Matt Cameron has proposed dropping the "Black" and shortening the name to "Yellow-tailed Cockatoo", explaining that shorter names are more widely accepted.
Within the genus, the Yellow-tailed and the two Western Australian white-tailed species, the Short-billed and Long-billed Black Cockatoo, form the subgenus Zanda. The Red-tailed
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo , also known as Banksian- or Banks' Black Cockatoo, is a large cockatoo native to Australia. This species was known as Calyptorhynchus magnificus for many decades until the current scientific name was officially conserved in 1994. It is more common in the drier parts...
and Glossy Black Cockatoos form the other subgenus, Calyptorhynchus. The two groups are distinguished by differing juvenile food begging calls and the degree of sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. Males and females of the latter group have markedly different plumage, whereas those of the former have similar plumage.
The three species of the subgenus Zanda have been variously considered as two, then as a single species for many years. In a 1979 paper, Australian ornithologist Denis Saunders
Denis A. Saunders
Dr Denis Allan Saunders, AM, is an Australian ornithologist and conservationist.-Awards:* 1998 - received the Individual in Government Award of the International Society for Conservation Biology...
highlighted the similarity between the Short-billed and the southern race xanthanotus of the Yellow-tailed and treated them as a single species with the Long-billed as a distinct species. He proposed that Western Australia had been colonised on two separate occasions, once by a common ancestor of all three forms (which became the Long-billed Black Cockatoo), and later by what has become the Short-billed Black Cockatoo. However, an analysis of protein allozyme
Allozyme
Variant forms of an enzyme that are coded by different alleles at the same locus are called allozymes. These are opposed to isozymes, which are enzymes that perform the same function, but which are coded by genes located at different loci....
s published in 1984 revealed the two Western Australian forms to be more closely related to each other than to the Yellow-tailed, and the consensus since then has been to treat them as three separate species.
Within the species, two subspecies are recognised:
- C. f. funereus, the nominate form, is known as the Eastern Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo. It is found from Berserker RangeBerserker RangeThe Berserker Range is a mountainous region located on the eastern and northeastern boundary of the city of Rockhampton in Central Queensland, Australia. Within it lies Mount Archer National Park. It has been designated the Berserker Range Environmental Protection Area by the Rockhampton Regional...
in central Queensland, south through New South Wales, and into eastern Victoria. It is distinguished by its overall larger size, longer tail and wings, and larger bill and claws.
- C. f. xanthanotus, known as the Southern Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, is found in western Victoria, southeastern South Australia, the islands of Bass StraitBass StraitBass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
, and Tasmania. Gould described it in 1838 and later changed his spelling to "xanthonotus". However, the first name was recognised as taking precedence under ICZNInternational Code of Zoological NomenclatureThe International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...
naming rules and its spelling preserved. Saunders reported in 1979 that male birds from Tasmania had wider bills than their mainland relatives, and that Tasmanian female birds were larger than males. However, this observation has yet to be replicated and most authorities only recognize two subspecies. If a third subspecies is recognized, the southern mainland subspecies would be named whiteae, having been named so by Gregory MathewsGregory MathewsGregory Macalister Mathews CBE was an Australian amateur ornithologist.Mathews made his fortune in mining shares, and moved to England around 1900....
in 1912, and the name xanthanotus, originally applied to a Tasmanian specimen, would be restricted to the Tasmanian population.
Description
Feather
Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...
-margins in the neck, nape, and wings, and pale yellow bands in the tail feathers. The tails of birds of subspecies funereus measure around 33 cm (13 in), with an average tail length 5 cm (2 in) longer than xanthanotus. Male furereus birds weigh on average around 731 g (1.6 lb) and females weigh about 800 g (1.8 lb). Birds of the xanthanotus race on the mainland average heavier than the Tasmanian birds; the males on the mainland weigh on average around 630 g and females 637 g (1.4 lb), while those on Tasmania average 583 and 585 g (1.3 lb) respectively. Both mainland and Tasmanian birds of the xanthanotus race average about 28 cm (11 in) in tail length. The plumage is a more solid brown-black in the eastern subspecies, while the southern race has more pronounced yellow scalloping on the underparts.
The male Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo has a black bill, a dull yellow patch behind each eye, and pinkish or reddish eye-rings. The female has grey eye-rings, a horn-coloured bill, and brighter and more clearly defined yellow cheek-patches. Immature birds have duller plumage overall, a horn-coloured bill, and grey eye-rings; The upper beak of the immature male darkens to black by two years of age, commencing at the base of the bill and spreading over ten weeks. The lower beak blackens later by four years of age. The elongated bill has a pointed maxilla (upper beak
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
), suited to digging out grubs from tree branches and trunks. Records of the timing of the eye ring changing from grey to pink in male birds are sparse, but have been recorded anywhere from one to four years of age. Australian farmer and amateur ornithologist John Courtney proposed that the similarity between juvenile and female eye rings prevented adult males becoming aggressive to younger birds. He also observed the eye rings to flush brighter in aggressive males. Moulting appears to take place in stages over the course of a year, and is poorly understood.
The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is distinguished from other dark-plumaged birds by its yellow tail and ear markings, and its contact call. Parts of its range overlap with the ranges of two cockatoo species that have red tail banding, the Red-tailed Cockatoo and the Glossy Black Cockatoo. Crow species may appear similar when seen flying at a distance; however, crows have shorter tails, a quicker wing beat, and different calls.
An all-yellow bird lacking in black pigment was recorded in Wauchope, New South Wales
Wauchope, New South Wales
-People from Wauchope:* Iva Davies - Musician, Icehouse* Alison Langdon - Channel Nine News Reader - Today Show* Phil Jamieson - Musician, Grinspoon* Andrew Stoner - NSW National Party of Australia leader, Member for Oxley...
, in December 1996, and it remained a part of the local group of cockatoos for four years. Birds with part-yellow plumage have been recorded from different areas in Victoria.
These birds are likely cases of Xanthorchromism. An image of one such bird can be found here.
Distribution and habitat
The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is found up to 2000 m (6500 ft) AMSL over southeastern Australia including the island of Tasmania and the islands of the Bass StraitBass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
(King, Flinders
Flinders Island
Flinders Island may refer to:In Australia:* Flinders Island , in the Furneaux Group, is the largest and best known* Flinders Island * Flinders Island , in the Investigator Group* Flinders Island...
, Cape Barren islands), and also on Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Island. It is southwest of Adelaide at the entrance of Gulf St Vincent. Its closest point to the mainland is off Cape Jervis, on the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the state of South Australia. The island is long...
. On Tasmania and the islands of the Bass Strait it is the only native black-coloured cockatoo. On the mainland, it is found from the vicinity of Gin Gin
Gin Gin, Queensland
Gin Gin is a small rural town located on the Bruce Highway in central Queensland, Australia, approximately 51 km west of Bundaberg and 370 km north-west of Brisbane, the state capital. The town owes its existence to its strategic location about halfway between Brisbane and Rockhampton. It...
and Gympie
Gympie
Gympie may refer to:* Gympie, a city in Queensland, Australia** Gympie Airport** Electoral district of Gympie** Gympie Region, its local government authority* Gympie Gympie , a stinging plant...
in south and central eastern Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, south through New South Wales, where it occurs along the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
and to the coast, and into and across most of Victoria bar the northern and northwestern corner, to the Coorong
Coorong National Park
The Coorong is a national park and lagoon ecosystem in South Australia , 156 km southeast of Adelaide. Its name is thought to be a corruption of the local Aboriginal people's word kurangh, meaning "long neck"; a reference to the shape of the lagoon system...
and Mount Lofty Ranges
Mount Lofty Ranges
The Mount Lofty Ranges are the range of mountains just to the east of Adelaide in South Australia.-Location and description:The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over before petering out north of Peterborough...
in southeastern South Australia. A tiny population numbering 30 to 40 birds inhabits the Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
. There they are found in Sugar Gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx
Eucalyptus cladocalyx
The Sugar Gum is a eucalypt from South Australia. It is found naturally in three distinct populations - in the Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula and on Kangaroo Island. Sugar Gums from the Flinders Ranges reach up to 35m in height and have the classic "gum" habit - with a straight trunk and steep...
) woodland in the lower peninsula and migrate to the mallee
Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands
Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is a Major Vegetation Group which occurs in semi-arid areas of southern Australia. The vegetation is dominated by mallee eucalypts which are rarely over 6 metres high...
areas in the northern peninsula after breeding. There is evidence that birds on the New South Wales south coast move from elevated areas to lower lying areas towards the coast in winter. They are generally common or locally very common in a wide range of habits, although they tend to be locally rare at the limits of their range. Their breeding range is restricted to areas with large old trees.
The birds may be found in a variety of habitats including grassy woodland, riparian forest
Riparian forest
A riparian forest is a forested area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, sink or reservoir. -Etymology:...
, heathland
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
, subalpine
Subalpine
The subalpine zone is the biotic zone immediately below tree line around the world. Species that occur in this zone depend on the location of the zone on the Earth, for example, Snow Gum in Australia, or Subalpine Larch, Mountain Hemlock and Subalpine Fir in western North America.Trees in the...
areas, pine plantations, and occasionally in urban areas, as long as there is a plentiful food supply. They have also spread to parts of suburban Sydney, particularly on or near golf courses, pine plantations and parks, such as Centennial Park
Centennial Park, New South Wales
Centennial Park is a large public, urban park that occupies 220 hectares in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Centennial Park is located 4 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Randwick...
in the eastern suburbs. It is unclear whether this is adaptive or because of loss of habitat elsewhere. In urban Melbourne, they have been recorded at Yarra Bend Park
Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne
Yarra Bend Park is a 260 hectare park in the Melbourne suburb of Kew. Located 4 km northeast of Melbourne's CBD, it is the largest area of natural bushland left in inner Melbourne. The most notable feature of the park is the Yarra River which flows for 12 km through it...
. The so-called "Black Saturday bushfires" in 2009 appear to have caused sufficient loss of their natural habitat for them to have been sighted in other parts if the urban areas of Melbourne as well.
Ecology and behaviour
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos are diurnal, raucous and noisy, and are often heard before being seen. They make long journeys by flying at a considerable height while calling to each other, and they are often seen flying high overhead in pairs, or trios comprising a pair and their young, or small groups. Outside of the breeding season in autumn or winter they may coalesce into flocks of a hundred birds or more, while family interactions between pairs or trios are maintained. They are generally wary birds, although they can be less shy in urban and suburban areas. They generally keep to trees, only coming to ground level to inspect fallen pine or banksia cones or to drink. Flight is fluid and has been described as "lazy", with deep, slow wingbeats.Tall eucalypts that are emergent over other trees in wooded areas are selected for roosting sites. It is here that the cockatoos rest for the night, and also rest to shelter from the heat of the day. They often socialise before dusk, engaging in preening
Personal grooming
Personal grooming is the art of cleaning, grooming, and maintaining parts of the body. It is a species-typical behavior that is controlled by neural circuits in the brain.- In humans :...
, feeding young, and flying acrobatically. Flocks will return to roost earlier in bad weather.
The usual call is an eerie high-pitched wailing contact call, "kee-ow ... kee-ow ... kee-ow", made while flying or roosting, and can be heard from afar. Birds may also make a harsh screeching alarm call. They also make a soft, chuckling call when searching for cossid
Cossidae
Cossidae, the cossid millers or carpenter millers, make up a family of mostly large miller moths. Ths family contains over 110 genera with almost 700 known species, and many more species await description...
moth larvae. Adults are normally quiet when feeding, while juveniles make frequent noisy begging calls. The Superb Lyrebird
Superb Lyrebird
The Superb Lyrebird is a pheasant-sized songbird, approximately 100cm long, with brown upper body plumage, grayish-brown below, rounded wings and strong legs...
can mimic the adult Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo's contact call with some success.
Feeding
The diet of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is varied and available from a range of habitats within its distribution, which reduces their vulnerability to degradation or change in habitat. Much of the diet comprises seeds of native trees, particularly she-oaks (AllocasuarinaAllocasuarina
Allocasuarina is a genus of trees in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus Casuarina, they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks, they are notable for their long, segmented branchlets that...
and Casuarina
Casuarina
Casuarina is a genus of 17 species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australasia, southeast Asia, and islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It was once treated as the sole genus in the family, but has been split into three genera .They are evergreen shrubs and trees growing to 35 m tall...
, including A. torulosa
Allocasuarina torulosa
Allocasuarina torulosa is a tree which grows in sub-rainforest of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. Originally described as Casuarina torulosa by William Aiton, it was moved to its current genus in 1982 by Australian botanist Lawrie Johnson...
and A. verticillata
Allocasuarina verticillata
Allocasuarina verticillata or drooping sheoak is a nitrogen fixing native tree of southeastern Australia. Originally collected in Tasmania and described as Casuarina verticillata by French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1786, it was moved to its current genus in 1982 by Australian botanist...
), but also Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
(including E. maculata flowers and E. nitida
Eucalyptus nitida
Eucalyptus nitida, commonly known as the Smithton Peppermint, is a eucalypt which is native to eastern Australia. It was first described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1856....
seeds), Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
(including gum exudate and gall
Gall
Galls or cecidia are outgrowths on the surface of lifeforms caused by invasion by other lifeforms, such as parasites or bacterial infection. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, from fungi and bacteria, to insects and mites...
s), Banksia
Banksia
Banksia is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes and fruiting "cones" and heads. When it comes to size, banksias range from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up...
(including the green seed pods and seeds of B. serrata
Banksia serrata
Banksia serrata, commonly known as Old Man Banksia, Saw Banksia, Saw-tooth Banksia and Red Honeysuckle, is a species of woody shrub or tree of the genus Banksia in the Proteaceae family. Native the east coast of Australia, it is found from Queensland through to Victoria with outlying populations on...
, B. integrifolia
Banksia integrifolia
Banksia integrifolia, commonly known as Coast Banksia, is a species of tree that grows along the east coast of Australia. One of the most widely distributed Banksia species, it occurs between Victoria and Central Queensland in a broad range of habitats, from coastal dunes to mountains...
, and B. marginata
Banksia marginata
Banksia marginata, commonly known as the Silver Banksia, is a species of tree or woody shrub in the plant genus Banksia found throughout much of southeastern Australia. It ranges from the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, to north of Armidale, New South Wales, and across Tasmania and the islands...
), and Hakea
Hakea
Hakea is a genus of 149 species of shrubs and small trees in the Proteaceae, native to Australia. They are found throughout the country, with the highest species diversity being found in the south west of Western Australia....
species (including H. gibbosa
Hakea gibbosa
Hakea gibbosa, commonly known as the Hairy Hakea or Rock Hakea, is a shrub of the Proteaceae family native to southeastern Australia. It has become an environmental weed in South Africa, where it had been introduced for use as a hedge plant, and New Zealand....
, H. rugosa
Hakea rugosa
Hakea rugosa, commonly known as the wrinkled hakea, is a shrub of the Proteaceae family native to Australia. it was first described in 1810 by botanist Robert Brown....
, H. nodosa
Hakea nodosa
Hakea nodosa, commonly known as Yellow Hakea, is a shrub which is native to Australia.-Description:Sweet Hakea is erect in habit, usually growing to about 3 metres tall and a similar width...
, H. sericea
Hakea sericea
Hakea sericea, commonly known as Needlebush or Silky Hakea, is a large species of shrub native to Australia. It is native to New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania but is found outside these states. It grows up to as a spreading and bushy shrub, flowering from winter to early spring.H...
, H. cycloptera
Hakea cycloptera
Hakea cycloptera, commonly known as Elm-seed Hakea, is a shrub which is native to Australia. It was named by botanist Robert Brown in 1810....
, and H. dactyloides
Hakea dactyloides
Hakea dactyloides, commonly known as the Finger Hakea, is a shrub of the Proteaceae family native to southeastern Australia. Two subspecies are recognised,...
). They are also partial to pine cones in plantations of the introduced Pinus radiata and to other introduced
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
trees, including Cupressus torulosa
Cupressus torulosa
Cupressus torulosa, known as the Himalayan cypress, is a species of cypress in southern Asia.-Distribution:The Himalayan cypress is an evergreen conifer tree species is found in the Himalaya from . It is also found on limestone terrain in Sichuan China and in Vietnam.-See also:*Cupressus*Index:...
, Betula pendula and the buds of elm Ulmus species. In the Eyre Peninsula, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo has become dependent on the introduced Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), alongside native species.
The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is very fond of the larvae of tree-boring beetles, such as the longhorn beetle Tryphocaria acanthocera, and cossid moth Xyleutes boisduvali. Birds seek them out all year but especially in June and July, when the moth caterpillars are largest, and they are accompanied by their just fledge
Fledge
Fledge is the stage in a young bird's life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of a chick's parents raising it to a fully grown state...
d young. They search out holes and make some exploratory bites looking for larvae. If successful, they peel and tear down a strip of bark to make a perch for themselves before continuing to gouge and excavate the larvae, which have deeply tunneled into the heartwood.
A Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo was observed stripping 4 x 2 cm (1.6 x 0.8 in) pieces of bark off a the trunk of a dead Leptospermum
Leptospermum
Leptospermum is a genus of about 80-86 species of plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the greatest diversity in the south of the continent; but one species extends to New Zealand, another to Malaysia, and L. recurvum is endemic to Malaysia.They...
tree in Acacia melanoxylon swamp near Togari in northwestern Tasmania. It then scraped a layer of white material about 0.5 mm thick from the inner surface with its beak. This white layer turned out to be hyphomycete
Hyphomycetes
Hyphomycetes is an obsolete class of fungi in the equally obsolete phylum Deuteromycota that lack fruiting bodies. Most hyphomycetes have now been assigned to the Ascomycota, mainly as a result of DNA sequencing, but many remain unassigned...
fungi and slime mould
Slime mould
Slime mold or mould is a broad term describing protists that use spores to reproduce. Slime molds were formerly classified as fungi, but are no longer considered part of this kingdom....
that grew in the cambium
Cork cambium
Cork cambium is a tissue found in many vascular plants as part of the periderm. The cork cambium is a lateral meristem and is responsible for secondary growth that replaces the epidermis in roots and stems...
of the bark.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos have been reported flocking to Banksia
Banksia
Banksia is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes and fruiting "cones" and heads. When it comes to size, banksias range from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up...
cones ten days after bushfire as the follicles open. With pine trees, they prefer green cones, nipping them off at the stem and holding in one foot, then systematically lifting each segment and extracting the seed. A cockatoo spends about twenty minutes on each pine cone.
They drink at various places, from stock troughs to puddles, and do so in the early morning or late in the afternoon. Insect larvae and Fabaceae
Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
seeds are among food reported to have been fed to young.
Breeding
The breeding season varies according to latitude, taking place from April to July in Queensland, January to May in northern New South Wales, December to February in southern New South Wales, and October to February in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. The male Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo courtsCourtship display
Courtship display is a special, sometimes ritualised, set of behaviours which some animals perform as part of courtship. Courtship behaviours can include special calls, postures, and movements, and may involve special plumage, bright colours or other ornamentation. A good example is the 'dancing'...
by puffing up crest and spreading his tail feathers to display his yellow plumage. Softly growling, he approaches the female and bows three or four times to her. His eye ring may also flush a deeper pink. Nesting takes place in large vertical tree hollows of tall trees, generally eucalypts, which are either living or dead. Isolated trees are generally chosen, so birds can fly to and from them relatively unhindered. The same tree may be used for many years. A 1994 study of nesting sites in Eucalyptus regnans
Eucalyptus regnans
Eucalyptus regnans, known variously by the common names Mountain Ash, Victorian Ash, Swamp Gum, Tasmanian Oak or Stringy Gum, is a species of Eucalyptus native to southeastern Australia, in Tasmania and Victoria...
forest in the Strzelecki Ranges
Strzelecki Ranges
Strzelecki Ranges, also known as Strzelecki Hills is a low mountain range in the Gippsland region of south-eastern Australia between the Latrobe Valley to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
in eastern Victoria found the average age of trees used for hollows by the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo to be 228 years. The authors noted that the proposed 80–150 year rotation time for managed forests would impact on the numbers of suitable trees.
Hollows can be 1 to 2 metres (3–7 ft) deep and 0.25–0.5 metres (10–20 in) wide, with a base of woodchips. A chance felling of a eucalypt known to have been used as a nesting tree near Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Tasmania
Scottsdale is a town in the north-east of Tasmania, Australia. It lies on the Tasman Highway, around north-east of Launceston and south-east of the coastal town of Bridport. It is part of the Dorset Council....
in northeastern Tasmania allowed accurate measurements to be made, yielding a hollow measuring 56 cm (22 in) high by 30 cm (12 in) wide at the mouth, and at least 65 cm (26 in) deep, in a tree which measured 72 cm (29 in) in diameter below the hollow. Both the male and female prepare the hollow for breeding, which involves peeling or scraping off wood shavings from the inside the hollow to prepare bedding for the eggs. Gum leaves are occasionally added as well. The clutch consists of one or two white lustreless rounded oval eggs which may have the occasional lime nodule. The first egg averages around 47 or 48 mm long and 37 mm in diameter (2 × 1.4 in). The second egg is around 2 mm smaller all over and is laid two to seven days later. The female incubates
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
the eggs alone and begins after the completion of laying. She enters the hollow feet first, and is visited by the male who brings food two to four times a day. Later both parents help to raise the chicks. The second chick is neglected and usually perishes in infancy. Information on the breeding of birds in the wild is lacking; however, the incubation period in captivity is 28–31 days. Newly hatched chicks are covered with yellow down
Down feather
The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding,...
and have pink beaks that fade to a greyish white by the time of fledging. Chicks fledge from the nest three months after hatching, and remain in the company of their parents until the next breeding season.
Like other cockatoos, this species is long-lived. A pair of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos at Rotterdam Zoo
Diergaarde Blijdorp
Diergaarde Blijdorp is a zoo in the northwestern part of Rotterdam, one of the oldest zoos in the Netherlands...
stopped breeding when they were 41 and 37 years of age, but still showed signs of close bonding. Birds appear to reach sexual maturity
Sexual maturity
Sexual maturity is the age or stage when an organism can reproduce. It is sometimes considered synonymous with adulthood, though the two are distinct...
between four and six years of age; this is the age range of breeding recorded in captivity.
Parasites
In 2004, a captive Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo and two free-living Tawny FrogmouthTawny Frogmouth
The Tawny Frogmouth is an Australian species of frogmouth, a type of bird found throughout the Australian mainland, Tasmania and southern New Guinea. The Tawny Frogmouth is often mistaken to be an owl...
s (Podargus strigoides) suffering neurological symptoms were shown to be hosting the rat nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis. They were the first non-mammalian hosts discovered for the organism. A species of feather mite, Psittophagus calyptorhynchi, has also been isolated from the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, its only host to date.
Relationship with humans
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos can cause damage in pine and eucalyptus plantations by weakening stems through gouging out pieces of wood in order to extract moth larvae. In places with these gum plantations, the population of the larva of the cossid moth Xyleutes boisduvali grows, which then leads to increased predation (and hence tree damage) by cockatoos. Furthermore, plantations generally lack undergrowthUndergrowth
Undergrowth usually refers to the vegetation in a forest, which can obstruct passage through the forest. The height of undergrowth is usually considered to be 0.3 – 3 m . Undergrowth can also refer all vegetation in a forest, which isn't in the canopy....
which might have prevented cockatoos from damaging younger trees. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos were shot as pests in some districts of New South Wales until the 1940s because of this.
Although it is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and not listed nationally as threatened, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is declining in numbers in Victoria and South Australia. This is due to habitat fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation as the name implies, describes the emergence of discontinuities in an organism's preferred environment , causing population fragmentation...
and loss of large trees used for breeding hollows, although birds have become more plentiful in the vicinity of pine plantations. It has been listed as vulnerable in South Australia, due to its decline in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges
Mount Lofty Ranges
The Mount Lofty Ranges are the range of mountains just to the east of Adelaide in South Australia.-Location and description:The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over before petering out north of Peterborough...
, and particularly the perilous status of the small isolated population on the Eyre Peninsula, which has declined sharply since European settlement, probably from loss of suitable habitat. A recovery program was commenced in 1998. Efforts to increase the population include fencing off remnants of native bushland, planting food plants such as Hakea rugosa, monitoring breeding, and raising chicks in captivity. As a result, the population has increased from a low of 19–21 individuals in 1998.
This species was seldom seen in captivity before the late 1950s, after which time a large number of wild-caught birds entered the Australian market. Since then, it has become more common, but is still rarely seen outside Australia. Captive Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos require a large aviary
Aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
to avoid apathy and poor health. There is some evidence that protein may be more important to them than to other cockatoos, and low protein has been linked with the production of yolkless eggs in captivity. Females in particular enjoy mealworm
Mealworm
Mealworms are the larval form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a species of darkling beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult...
s. They can be placid and tolerate sharing an enclosure with smaller parrots, but do not handle disturbance while breeding. As with other black cockatoos, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos are rarely seen in European zoos, since Australia restricted exportation of wildlife in 1959, but birds seized by government agencies in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have been loaned to zoos that are members of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
-External links:*...
(EAZA). In 2000, there were pairs of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos in Puerto de la Cruz
Puerto de la Cruz
Puerto de la Cruz is a city and municipality located in Spain, on the north coast of Tenerife island, in the Orotava Valley...
zoo in Spain and in Rotterdam. Like most species of parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
s, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) with its placement on the Appendix II list of vulnerable species, which makes the import, export, and trade of listed wild-caught animals illegal.
External links
- Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection