Yellowtailed Black Cockatoos

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03f8dfc3.jpg"> <div> <B>     </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Landcare"><U><B>Landcare Home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>   </B></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>BYWONG COMMUNITY</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="BYWONG COMMUNITY"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> Yellowtailed Black Cockatoos</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=398 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfc3.jpg"> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B>Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0816f070.jpg" border=0 width="367" height="263" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> T<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" >here's been much interest and debate in the Wamboin area (via an email discussion group on local wildlife) concerning the now regular visits from the spectacular but seemingly destructive flocks of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus funereus).</FONT></div> <div> Their stay is usually short but they manage to make their presence felt. Like something out of a Hitchcock movie, they fly low, appear to be fearless, have a deafening screech and manage to wreak havoc on many plants. Responses to them vary from joy to annoyance with many locals putting out the welcome mat by planting their favoured native food sources, while others are devising ways to discourage their return.</div> <div> These birds with their loud, distinctive "kee-ow" calls, have been frequenting the area for the past few years. Their natural habitat varies from rainforests and woodlands through to timber along water-courses. They are known to be regular visitors to coastal heathlands, orchards and pine plantations, which no doubt accounts for their sojourns to the Wamboin district. Short of removing all pines in the area (an idea which would no doubt be supported by many, as they are now high on the list of environmental weeds across the country!) it seems the Yellow-tails are here to stay.</div> <div> According to Rainer Rehwinkel of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Queanbeyan: </div> <div> <I>"Part of the natural diet of these wonderful birds is the large wood grub which feeds in wattles and gums. This is what they're hunting for when they are apparently ring-barking trees. These bird were unheard of in the Macs Reef Road area or even the suburbs of Canberra 20 years ago. They seem to have moved into these areas recently because of the pine trees, upon whose cones they feed. Pine seeds are an inferior source of food for this adaptable species - I have heard of a study that showed that Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos that ate large amounts of these seeds had a lower breeding success rate.</I></div> <div> <I>The fact that these bird are feeding on their 'natural diet', albeit in the 'new habitat' of rural subdivisions should be regarded as part of the evolutionary processes that are adapting this once uncommon bird species to a landscape highly modified by humans. This should be celebrated. I for one would certainly not mind it if these wonderful birds wrecked a few saplings in order to survive, as they certainly have been doing for eons in their tall forest habitat! And importantly, those trees infested with wood boring grubs will certainly not survive to maturity in any case".</I></div> <div> Apart from wood grubs, these birds have a penchant for banksias and hakeas in particular, but will probably search out almost any large-fruited native species or conifers. They leave the bushes looking as if they had been pruned by Edward Scissorhands! Fortunately these plants manage to recover, bear fruit and live to survive another attack. </div> <bR> <bR> <div>                                                           <IMG SRC="082ca4d0.jpg" border=0 width="202" height="333" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Of particular interest has been the repeated sighting of a luminous yellow version of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo in this area. The bird had small patches of black which at first glance gave the impression that the bird had reversed colourings. It was also thought by some to be albino. Albinoism is the total absence of all pigments which means the bird would have been white with pink eyes. In fact the condition this particular bird had is referred to as 'leucism'. Leucistic birds have an impairment in the normal pigmentation process. In this bird the chemical 'melanin' had been almost totally blocked, only appearing normal in the flight and tail feathers, and some individual feathers on its back and chest. </div> <bR> <div>                                                    <IMG SRC="080fac90.jpg" border=0 width="250" height="201" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Understandably, there were great efforts being made to capture this bird in a photograph (hopefully that was the only type of capture attempted!) and although exceedingly difficult, some people were successful and some of their photographs illustrate this article</div> <div> Certainly the occasional stop-over of the Yellow-tails is less of a threat than the imminent invasion of the Common (or Indian) Mynah bird to the region. This pest bird was introduced to the local region (Canberra) in 1968, and is now encroaching on this area, having already established at Eaglehawk and sighted near the Sutton Interchange and as far as Newington Road. Common Mynah is a very aggressive, gregarious territorial species. It nests in hollows and soon displaces native species that require hollows for their survival. Often it is in such large numbers that it excludes almost if not all native hollow-requiring species.</div> <div> <B>At the October 13 meeting of the Geary's Gap/Wamboin Landcare Group, Chris Tidemann, Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Management from the ANU School of Resources, Environment & Society, will be addressing the problem and providing ideas on how to combat it.</B></div> <div> If you are interested in being part of the wildlife email discussion group, <B>contact Colin Johnson at </B><A HREF="mailto:colin.jophnson69@bigpond.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:colin.jophnson69@bigpond.com"><U><B>colin.johnson69@bigpond.com</B></U></A><B> </B>This is an informal group which provides a forum for asking questions, sharing sightings, learning about local critters and discussing wildlife issues.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>