About the Forest Re-tTailed Black Cockatoo

The Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii naso) is one of the five subspecies of red tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) native to Australia.

This subspecies was named ‘Naso’, referring to its large beak, by John Gould in 1837. It is known to the Noongar people as ‘karrak’.

They are regarded as a long lived but slow reproducing species. Individuals may survive in the wild for 25-50 years but may have just one offspring every 2-3 years.

Description

Forest Red Tail black cockatoos are 55-60 cm in length and weigh 570-870 grams. They have rich black feathers, that can have greenish blue hues in the sunlight.

The males have solid red panels in the tails and a dark grey bill. The females have yellow spots on the head, neck and wings, the tail has orange yellow barring. The beak of the female is off white. The juvenile birds are similar to the female although paler yellow spots, with dark grey or blackish beak.

Forest Red Tailed Black Cockatoos in rehabilitation ©

Distribution and Habitat

Forest Red Tails are only endemic to the south west Western Australia, from near Perth south to just east of Albany. They occur north to Gingin east to Mt Helena south mainly along the hilly interior to King River. Their range has contracted by approximately 30% since European settlement, mainly due to habitat loss.

The Forest Red Tail lives in eucalypt forests, feeding on Marri, Jarrah, Blackbutt, Karri, Sheoak and Snottygobble. They use their robust beak to tear open the nuts to get to the tiny seeds inside. Forest Red Tails will forage on the ground occasionally.

With the loss of habitat, they now eat the introduced Cape Lilac and on some garden eucalypts. They live in small flocks (up to 50) that split into family groups (4-10) during the day when foraging. Forest Red Tails are largely sedentary, night roosting in Jarrah, Marri, Blackbutt habitat generally within 4kms of their feeding sites.

The past ~15 years has seen an increase in Forest Red-tail sighting’s on the Perth-Peel Coastal Plain as they enter suburbs in search of novel food sources, in particular Cape Lilac.

Map by Birdlife WA

Breeding

Forest red-tails have been recorded to breed in every month of the year. However, there are two clear peaks in breeding. Firstly in April-June (autumn-winter) and later in August-October (Spring). Only a fragment of the population may breed each year with limited breeding recorded in years with limited resources. Frequency of breeding events appear to be linked to volume of fruit produced by both Jarrah and Marri trees, which may only have a heavy fruiting every 3-4 years. Each individual pair may only breed once every 2-3 years.

Pairs are monogamous and will select a suitable nesting site together. Nest sites are always hollows, which may take over 150 years to grow naturally in a tree. The female prepares the hollow by covering the bottom with wood chips usually laying only one egg (rarely two) which hatches about 29-31 days later.

Only the female incubates and broods the chick. Hatchlings are covered in sparse yellow down. The male will return to feed the female at the entrance of the hollow. Once the chick fledges between 75-100 days both the male and female will feed the young. The young may be dependent on their parents for up to 18 months.

They reach sexual maturity around 3-4 years old.

A species in decline

Although the species as a whole is not under threat, each sub-species faces unique problems. The species has experienced a constant decline in population numbers over the past 60 years.

Destruction of forests and woodland for housing developments has significantly reduced the habitat for Forest Red Tail Black Cockatoos. There is competition for nesting hollows from feral European honest bees, Galahs, Corellas and the introduced Rainbow Lorikeet.

The impact of fire particularly in breeding season and Raven attacks have significantly reduced the numbers of young Forest Red Tails. The sub-species is listed as Vulnerable by both the WA and Federal governments.

What you can do to help the Forest Red Tail Black Cockatoo

  • Protect veteran and stag marri trees.
  • Identify and report feral bee hives in nesting hollows.
  • Lobby your Local council to plant native trees in parks and reserves that will feed Black Cockatoos.
  • If you have a big backyard, plant native trees such as marri and jarrah
  • Spread the word
  • Support Kaarakin and why not come and visit our centre to learn more about our conservation and rehabilitation efforts.
  • Participate in the Great Cocky Count. It is a long-term citizen science survey that monitors known roost sites of Carnaby’s cockatoos, but also takes note of Baudin’s and Forest Red  Tail cockatoos. Anyone can get involved, with volunteers participating in the one-night survey every autumn across the south-west of WA.
  • If you think you have seen a Carnaby’s, Baudins or Forest Red Tail black cockatoo, fill out a Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions fauna report form and send it to the Department’s Species and Communities Branch at fauna@dbca.wa.gov.au. The Department keeps track of the distributions of threatened species to help monitor population trends and inform management decisions.