Two recent
chance encounters with Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus), one at home and one in nearby forest, moved
me to do a post on this species as a follow on from my last post featuring the
Glossy Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami), the other species of
Black-Cockatoo found in East Gippsland.
Unlike the
Glossy, the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo is relatively common in East Gippsland
though encounters are mostly by chance, given this bird is locally nomadic and perhaps
also a seasonal migrant, probably moving to higher altitudes in spring and
summer and returning to the foothills and coastal forests to spend autumn and
winter. That said, they can be found in our district at any time of year and I
suspect we do not have a clear and certain handle on their movements.
About 35
years ago now I witnessed a flock of well over 100 Yellow-tailed
Black-Cockatoos at the northern end of Flinders Island where I felt at the time
they were gathering for a flight across to the mainland. I suspect at least
some birds of this species migrate between Tasmania and mainland Australia.
We sometimes
see lone birds and pairs or threes are common and sometimes flocks of five to
ten birds. Larger flocks in our area are rare. Yellow-tails pair bond for life
and usually one chick is raised, so two parents with a dependent-young is a common
encounter.
The
Yellow-tails are weakly dimorphic with the most obvious difference between adult
males and females being the red eye-ring on males and grey on females. Also,
the yellow spot on the ear coverts is dull on males and brighter yellow on
females and the male bill is blackish and the female’s whitish.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
In this photo the male is on the left and the female on the right. The main differences between the male and female are obvious - eye-ring, bill colour and the depth of the yellow ear patch. |
The female has flown and the male is about to follow her. |
The
following photos were taken of a lone male in nearby forest.
Lone male Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo. The bird sat quietly for a while as I snapped away. |
And then it started to stretch ahead of departing. |
Having stretched the bird is about to fly. |
The Yellow-tailed
Black Cockatoo (along with its fellow-species) is an iconic Australian bird and
its unmistakable and far carrying call, sometimes described as “why-lar” or “wee-lar” (Pizzey & Knight) or “a prolonged kee__________ow . . . kee_________ow” (Forshaw and Cooper), always elicits
an emotional response in me, and I suspect in others.
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