![]() As the bird has a relatively long lifespan, the effect of these threats may not yet be fully evident on population numbers. The full impact of threats such as habitat clearing and modification on the glossy black-cockatoo is still unknown. They also suffer from competition for nests from galahs and introduced honeybees. Glossy black-cockatoos are also threatened by feral cats and possums, which raid the birds' nests. Large dead trees where the birds nest may also be destroyed in a fire. Casuarina trees are very fire-sensitive and are easily killed in an intense fire. Fragmentation of habitat reduces the chances of successful breeding.Ĭhanges to patterns of bushfires in eastern Australia since European settlement have also contributed to the loss of habitat for the glossy black-cockatoo. Scientists think that, to breed successfully, glossy black-cockatoos need food trees to be near their nest trees. There has also been evidence to suggest that some glossy black-cockatoos from this region have been trapped for the illegal bird trade. The Riverina in New South Wales is one area in the birds' range that has suffered a major decline in population due to the removal of habitat. Since European colonisation, a major threat to the survival of the glossy black-cockatoo is habitat loss – the clearing of casuarina trees in woodland areas and the loss of mature eucalypts for nest hollows. In New South Wales, the current distribution of the glossy black-cockatoo covers areas from the coast to the tablelands and extends as far west as the Riverina and Pilliga Scrub. The species has become regionally extinct in parts of western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. An isolated population of glossy black-cockatoos is also known to live on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is now distributed throughout an area which extends from the coast near Eungella in eastern Queensland to Mallacoota in Victoria. The glossy black-cockatoo has a patchy distribution in Australia, having once been widespread across most of the south-eastern part of the country. Brigalow scrub or hilly rocky country containing casuarina species tends to be their preferred habitat in inland New South Wales. ![]() Scientists think that glossy black-cockatoos prefer to live in rugged country, where extensive clearing has not taken place. It then walked a few steps away and proceeded to drop the gumnut without eating it.The glossy black-cockatoo lives in coastal woodlands and drier forest areas, open inland woodlands or timbered watercourses where its main food source, the casuarina (she-oak), is common. “A juvenile from the second group made a beeline to the female in the first group and attempted to steal the gumnut she was eating. ![]() All of a sudden another family group flew in, calling to announce their arrival,” Erika says. “I was watching a family group of cockatoos feeding in a marri, happily chomping away on the large gumnuts. Erika’s favourite is her ‘Nut Theft’ story. Over her studies, Erika has seen some of their complex social behaviours play out. “Growing up near Canberra we would have yellow-tails visit our pine trees a few times a year and I’d run outside as soon as I heard them coming,” she says.Įrika now lives in Perth where much of her studies have focused on the forest red-tailed black cockatoo species ( Calyptorhynchus banksii naso ) in south-western WA, many of which have taken up residency in metropolitan areas. Black cockatoo expert Erika Roper from the University of Western Australia has been working with these birds for four years, but has had a lifetime affinity with them.
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