Update on 9 October 2019: The birds are Glossy Black-Cockatoos, not Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos. Thank you to Carol Probets for pointing this out in a comment on the post.

Today I heard an unusual bird call – a kind of heavy, high-pitched whirring noise. I followed it down the path and saw two large black cockatoos. They flew off when I arrived, and landed again a few trees further on, chattering to each other.

I’ve seen Glossy Black-Cockatoos in the same area once or twice (see my posts). Today’s birds were larger, I thought, and seemed to have larger crests than the others I’d seen. At first, this led me to think they were Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos, but it turns out they were Glossies.

Here’s the only picture I managed to get. (The birds were much more timid than the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos that are more common in our area.) This is the female of the pair, so her tail has yellow/orange panels rather than red:

Common name: Glossy Black-Cockatoo

Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus lathami

Approximate length: 50cm

Date spotted: 18 August 2019 (late winter)

Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’47.3″S 151°15’03.3″E