![]() Sunshine Coast Council is protecting glossy black-cockatoo habitat through council’s environment levy land acquisition program. On the Sunshine Coast, the glossy has been recorded in a number of different areas, with recent sightings in Mooloolah Valley, Ilkley, Verrierdale, Cambroon, Kenilworth, Peachester, Cooloolabin, Yandina Creek, Caloundra and Sunshine Beach (Noosa Council region). Some of the main threats to this species include habitat modification and loss as well as inappropriate fire regimes resulting in the removal of food resources and nesting sites. In Queensland, the more southern subspecies of glossy black cockatoo ( Calyptorhynchus lathami lathami) is listed as ‘Vulnerable to extinction’ under the Nature Conservation Act 1992. The chewed cones, or ‘orts,’ can number in the hundreds at the base of certain casuarina trees these are a tell-tale sign of the bird’s presence. They may return to the same individual food tree time and time again to feed on the seeds of casuarina cones, often ignoring nearby trees that are full of cones. In SEQ, glossy black cockatoos’ favoured food trees are the black she-oak ( Allocasuarina littoralis) and forest she-oak ( Allocasuarina torulosa). This fascinating bird is incredibly fussy when it comes to its culinary pursuits. Female glossies can also have large yellow blotches on the head and neck, not found on other black cockatoos. Glossies are also not exactly black in colour like the other cockatoos they are more brownish-black, and have a large bulbous bill. Both of these other cockatoo species congregate in large, noisy flocks, in stark contrast to the typically small, quiet groups that are characteristic of glossies. Glossies are sometimes misidentified and confused with other similar black cockatoo species found in south east Queensland (SEQ), including the more common yellow-tailed black cockatoo ( Calyptorhynchus funereus) and the red-tailed black cockatoo ( = Calyptorhynchus banksii), a rare visitor to the Sunshine Coast. An observer may only be alerted to the presence of this bird by hearing the sound of chewed cones falling to the earth. Unlike other cockatoos, the glossy is a quiet bird that often goes unnoticed, feeding almost silently on seeds contained within casuarina (she-oak) cones. This seldom seen bird frequents mainly eucalypt forest communities with good stands of she-oaks along the coastal plain and in hinterland areas. The Sunshine Coast region is home to a very unique, yet unfortunately threatened species of cockatoo, the glossy black cockatoo. ![]() ![]() They also appear to move around in response to seasonal food availability.Article by Benjamin Green, natural areas technical officer, Sunshine Coast Council Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos are described as dispersive, meaning that they move away from where they were born to where they breed and that they may breed in separate locations. The species also occurs in three geographically separate regions in each of: south-west Victoria/south-east South Australia the south-west to west of Western Australia central Australia in southern Northern Territory and northern South Australia. It is then found from there down along the Darling River. Combining these, this species is found from the Pilbara and Kimberleys in Western Australia in a broad swath through the Top End, much of Queensland through to the region of the New South Wales border. ![]() There are five subspecies of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo occurring in eight discrete populations. It can also be found in grasslands and farmlands. The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is found in a range of environments, but it is found mostly in Eucalyptus forests or woodlands and often in adjacent areas of woodlands or shrublands, especially if they have experienced fire recently. ![]()
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