Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus funereus

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Mt. Wellington, Tasmania, Australia, February 2006 - click for larger image

Australia
February / April 2006

The Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo is distributed in south-east Australia from the Eyre Peninsula, SA, round to east-central Queensland and in Tasmania. They are found in forest, woodland and coastal heath.

We came across the first birds (photos 1 and 2) on Mt. Wellington near Hobart, Tasmania. There was an almost unearthly and very loud ripping sound and, in my ignorance, I was expecting to see some large marsupial as I cautiously made my way towards the noise. Instead we found a group of four birds ripping the bark off the trees to get at the insect larvae underneath.

The sub-species found in Tasmania C. f. xanthonotus is, in fact, less well known for this behaviour than the mainland sub-species. In Tasmania they are better known as seed-eaters.

There are 3 sub-species: C. f. xanthonotus in Tasmania (photos 1 and 2), C. f. funereus east of Melbourne (photos 3 and 4) and C. f. whiteae west of Melbourne (photos 5 and 6). There is not much obvious difference between the sub-species but the nominate is larger in the wings and tail while whiteae has a wider bill.

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Wilson's Promontory, Victoria, Australia, April 2006 - click for larger image

Both sexes have pale yellow panels on the tail. The male has a duller yellow spot than the female on the ear coverts, a blackish bill (whitish on the female) and a reddish eye-ring (grey on the female).

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Kangaroo Island, SA, Australia, March 2006 - click for larger image

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Bool Lagoon, SA, Australia, February 2006 - click for larger image

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