Australian Bush Birds

http://www.australianbushbirds.info

HOME   INDEX   THUMBNAILS	BACK
PRINT(.pdf) VERSION

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo  -  Calyptorhynchus funereus

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo. The red eye-ring indicates a male. (Urunga, NSW)

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo - mainly black with pale spots. (Urunga, NSW)

The Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus) is black overall with yellow ear patches and yellow patches under the tail. On close examination most body feathers, especially on the breast, have a pale yellow margin. Males have red eye-rings and dark bills, females have grey eye-rings and pale coloured bills. Reaches 58 to 65 centimetres long. Inhabits eucalyptus forests, woodlands and rainforests. Feeds largely on seeds of native plants and shrubs including banksia, eucalyptus and hakeas. Yellow-tailed black cockatoos in the photographs below are feeding on seeds in a grevillia. In the left photograph the bird is holding the branch with one claw while using the other to tear off flowers and hold them to its bill for feeding. The left photograph is of a male bird with red eye-ring and darker beak; the other photographs show a female's grey eye-ring and whitish bill.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo - page 2

Found in the south-east of Australia (including Tasmania) from about Rockhampton in Queensland to Ceduna in South Australia, along the coast and inland to the inland slopes. Found in pairs or small groups of five or six forming large flocks in winter. Moderately common, nomadic or locally migratory.

REFERENCES     TOP