Newsletter / Blog
2012-03-21 Threatened Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos numbers decrease - Perth Region.
A report released by BirdLife
Australia (BirdLife Partner) and the Department of Environment and
Conservation shows that the numbers of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos decreased in
the Perth Region in the last year by 37%. Habitat clearance and fragmentation
is the biggest threat to this cockatoo.
Carnaby's
Black Cockatoo - Calyptorhynchus
latirostris - is a cockatoo endemic to south-western Australia.
Description
It is mostly
dark-grey with narrow vague light-grey scalloping, which is produced by narrow
pale-grey margins at the tip of dark-grey feathers. It has a crest of short
feathers on its head, and it has whitish patches of feathers that cover its
ears. Its lateral tail feathers are white with black tips, and the central tail
feathers are all black. The irises are dark brown and the legs are brown-grey. Adult
males have a dark grey beak and pink eye-rings. The adult female has a bone
coloured beak, grey eye-rings, and its ear patches are paler than that of the
male. Juveniles have a bone coloured beak, grey eye-rings, and have less white
in the tail feathers.
Call
High-pitched and
drawn out whistle. Alarm call harsh screech. Fledged youngsters emit constant
wheezing sound.
Food
They feed
primarily on seeds, flowers and occasionally invertebrates.
Breeding
They nest in
large hollows in tall, living or dead eucalypts. Clutch-size is two eggs or,
more rarely, one. The eggs are white or creamy white and are incubated by the
female only, for a period of 28 to 29 days. Nestlings are brooded by the female
and fed by both parents. Wandoo and
salmon gum woodlands are an important breeding area for Carnaby's Cockatoo.
There is competition for nesting hollows with invasive species such as the
Western Long-billed Corella, the Galah, and the European honeybee.
Conservation Status – Endangered
Major threats to
Carnaby's Cockatoo include clearing of their feeding and breeding areas,
destruction of nesting hollows (e.g. during firewood collection), competition
with other species for nesting hollows, and illegal poaching.
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