Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos

(photographs from 4.11.2020)

The Gumbaynggirr call these playful aviators the storm birds. They often appear ahead of a storm front and seem to enjoy wild weather. They are free wheeling, ragged flyers, and raucous. Always keeping in touch. When resting they make a continuous low, grating sound, and when flying or startled a screeching wail.

They range from central Queensland down to South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. They are wary of humans, much harder to approach than the rarer, endangered Glossy Black Cockatoos. We see flocks of up to a hundred but their population has significantly declined along the East coast. They are joy to live with.

They feed on the seeds of banksias, hakeas and casuarinas, and insect larvae. These birds love our Green Banksias. One always keeps watch (usually a juvenile), while others feed. They nest in tree hollows and usually have the one chick.