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3 Glossy Black-Cockatoos and a tale of a Brush-turkey and a Raven
Two days ago, I encountered a group of three Glossy Black-Cockatoos on a Casuarina tree. These large cockatoos are not a very common sight. When I noticed them, I stopped walking and said “ooh” out loud. Luckily there was no-one around to hear, and the birds ignored me!
While I was watching the cockatoos, a couple of other characters appeared and contributed to the encounter. Read the story below!
First, the glossies
This picture shows two of the Glossy Black-Cockatoos. They’re quite different in appearance from the more common Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos. The feather arrangement around the glossies’ necks and the general setting of their heads make me think of a lion:
I think the bird on the left is a female, as she has a lot of yellow around her head. The one on the right is, I think, a male.
In the video below, the birds are munching happily on Casuarina seed pods. About half way through the video (at around 50-53 seconds on the timeline) the birds mutter to each other in low-pitched raspy calls. This munching and muttering is typical of the birds’ behaviour.
Below is a solo shot of the first of the three birds. This one has a lot of yellow around its head, which means it’s probably a female:
Glossy Black-Cockatoos depend on Casuarina seeds for their food. This choosiness puts the birds at risk when the tree coverage is depleted by land clearance or bush fires. Casuarinas, also called sheoaks or she-oaks, are a group of trees and shrubs native to Australia and other Asian countries. Evidently the name Casuarina is derived from cassowary (a big bird) because the branches look like cassowary feathers.
Next comes a solo shot of the second of the three birds. I think this one is a male. The feathers around its head and neck are quite brown in comparison to the darker black feathers on the rest of its body. The bird is holding a Casuarina seed pod. You can also see a few of the tree’s tiny red flowers:
It’s a treat to see these unusual, gorgeous birds. Definitely a moment for oohing and aahing.
Unwell Glossy Black-Cockatoo – beak and feather disease?
One of the three cockatoos has an illness which has affected its beak. It may be Psittacine beak and feather disease, or some sort of cancer, or maybe the result of a fight or accident?
I didn’t notice the hole above the bird’s beak until I got the pictures home and put them on a big screen. The birds were quite a distance away, and I was using my camera’s super zoom to photograph them. But even from the long distance, I did think that the bird looked duller and more skeletal than the other two.
Poor bird, I hope the condition isn’t causing it too much discomfort.
Video featuring the female Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Here’s another video of two of the birds, this time featuring the female. Hint: At the start of the video you can hear a bit of thrashing around in the undergrowth. That background noise leads into the story below!
Common name: Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus lathami
Approximate length: 50cm
Date spotted: 18 September 2020 (spring)
Location: Manly Dam Park, near Sydney: 33°46’55.0″S 151°15’10.1″E
A tale of a Brush-turkey and an Australian Raven
If you listen carefully in the first half of the above video, you’ll hear a bit of a kerfuffle in the background. I heard it too, and turned to look when I stopped filming. I saw an Australian Brush-turkey flapping around among the trees a few metres away from me. “Ah, just a brush-turkey,” I thought, and turned back to the cockatoos. Brush-turkeys seem to specialize in making a fuss about nothing.
The kerfuffle turned into a whoosh of large wings, followed by a downdraft of air and the sound of claws on metal. I turned around again, to discover that the brush-turkey had landed on a gate less than two metres away from me. (The gate was one of those that the authorities use to close the park when the danger of bush fires is critical.)
“Hallo, mate,” said I. “What are you up to?” I do talk to birds when they approach me, partly to make us both feel comfortable.
The brush-turkey look at me, then teetered slightly and looked down at the ground with some apprehension. They do that, when they’re off the ground. They’re no doubt thinking, “I got myself up here, but now that ground is a long way down. How do I get down there?”
Two seconds later, a large, fierce Australian Raven arrived. Eyes ice blue. Beak long, strong, and pointy. Being the focus of that glare is rather daunting, even if you’re a large human.
The raven glared at me. I stood my ground. One point five metres of empty space between me and that beak.
The raven decided I wasn’t a threat, and turned its attention back to the brush-turkey. Obviously, the raven wanted to continue the altercation that had been the cause of all that kerfuffle in the trees.
The brush-turkey looked at the raven, looked at me, and hopped off the gate. A few hurried steps, and it was at my feet. It got as close to my knees as it could, then started walking round my legs. When it comes to a choice between a raven and me, it seems I’m a safe haven.
The raven looked thoroughly peeved. It leapt into the air and spotted the Glossy Black-Cockatoos, who were still peacefully munching and muttering in the Casuarinas. With a caw and a swoop, the raven dislodged the glossies. They floated into the air with easy grace, and came to land again a few trees away. “Ah, ravens,” the glossies were no doubt thinking. “They seem to specialize in making a fuss about nothing.”
The brush-turkey was still jittering around my legs. I wanted to continue filming the cockatoos, so I waited for a gap in the brush-turkey’s circle, and strode out along the path towards the cockatoos’ new roosting area.
Within a second, I heard the tick-tick-tick of brush-turkey claws on the path. The turkey had decided to stay with its safe haven for a while, in case that nasty bird with the ice-blue eyes and big strong beak came back.
So there we were, the cockatoos munching and muttering, I oohing and aahing, and the brush-turkey click-clacking companionably at my heels.
I wish I’d got all of that on camera! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story. 🙂
Here are a couple of pics of a brush-turkey and a raven, though these are not the same birds that appear in this story.
Little Corella and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Yesterday I came across a large group of Little Corellas on the sidewalk. In the midst of them was a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. It was interesting to see the two birds up close, because from afar they look very similar. This video shows an interaction between the cockatoo and one of the corellas. You can also hear the corellas chatting to each other constantly.
These two corellas were cuddling up:
The crest of a Little Corella is white, and smaller than that of a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo:
Little Corellas have blue-grey feet, a blue patch of skin around the eye, and a pinkish patch of feathers between the eye and beak. The birds’ overall colouring makes them look rather cadaverous!
Common name: Little Corella
Scientific name: Cacatua sanguinea
Approximate length: 36-39 cm
Date spotted: 23 May 2020 (autumn)
Location: Allambie Heights near Sydney, Australia
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos in the garden
Three Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos dropped in this afternoon. They chatted to each other with their weird squealing call, while demolishing parts of our Old Man Banksia bush.
Here’s one of the birds. The pink ring around the eye identifies it as a male:
In this short video, you can hear them chatting to each other:
It’s lovely to have these big, gracious birds paying us a call.
Common name: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus funereus
Approximate length: 65 cm
Date spotted: 20 May 2020 (autumn)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo with orange chest feathers
The Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were out in full force early this morning. I enjoy hearing their conversations, whilethey chatter, scold, and screech at each other. I zoomed in to take this video of one of the birds from close up. It’s interesting to see that the cockatoo has pinkish orange feathers on its chest. I wonder if this is a seasonal variation of the more usual pure white? It’s late spring, and perhaps the colour is an attempt to appear more attractive to the opposite sex.
The next video shows a group of birds wheeling around the trees. You can hear the sounds of other birds when the cockatoos are quiet enough to allow it!
Common name: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Scientific name: Cacatua galerita
Approximate length: 50 cm
Date spotted: 1 December 2019 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’49.7″S 151°14’56.0″E
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo calling while keeping a lookout
Yesterday I saw a group of four Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. I love coming across these large birds, as they impart a feeling of calm and grace. I took a video of the bird that seemed to be the designated lookout, sitting on a branch while the others foraged on the ground. You can hear the eerie call that the bird makes. It sounds rather like a door opening on rusty hinges!
Common name: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus funereus
Approximate length: 65 cm
Date spotted: 9 November 2019 (spring)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’40.0″S 151°14’50.2″E
Glossy Black-Cockatoos near Sydney
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
Little Corella sipping water from roof guttering
From a distance, Little Corellas look very similar to Sulphur-crested Cockatoos. It’s only when you get up close that you notice the differences. Corellas do have a crest on their heads, but it’s smaller than that of their sulphur-crested cousins and doesn’t have a yellow flare.
Up until a few months ago, it was unusual to see these birds in our neighbourhood on the east coast of Australia, but I’ve seen them three or four times recently. I filmed this one sipping water from the gutter on the roof of a house:
Little Corellas have big, rubbery-looking blue patches around and under their eyes. The first time I saw one of these birds, for a couple of seconds I thought it was a very sick Sulphur-crested Cockatoo!
Often the crests on their heads are laid flat, as in the above photo. Here’s one with a raised crest, giving it that typically cheeky cockatoo look:
I’m delighted to add this bird to my posts about the various types of cockatoo that I’ve seen in our neighbourhood.
Common name: Little Corella
Scientific name: Cacatua sanguinea
Approximate length: 36-39 cm
Date spotted: 26 May 2019 (Autumn)
Location: Allambie Heights near Sydney, Australia
Cockatoos cleaning out a tree hollow
Two Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were very busy cleaning out a hollow in a tree trunk when I walked past them today. The tree is in Manly Dam National Park. I often see cockatoos strutting up and down this tree trunk, raising their crests and squawking, and flying from tree to tree. The area is where they hang out. It’s a cockatoo playground.
In this video, one of the cockatoos gets into the cleaning in a big way, disappearing into the hollow and kicking out chunks of debris. The other cockatoo watches from above, then goes down to join the fun:
It seems an odd time of year to be preparing to build a nest. I’ve seen a few swarms of bees in this particular hollow from time to time over the years. I wonder if the cockatoos are looking for left over honeycomb?
Common name: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Scientific name: Cacatua galerita
Approximate length: 50 cm
Date spotted: 10 March 2019 (late summer)
Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’50.5″S 151°14’51.1″E
Four Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos come to visit
Today I arrived home from a long overseas trip. An hour or so after getting home, I was delighted to hear the haunting calls of a group of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. They came to visit our Old Man Banksia tree, which is currently covered in dried seed pods. A tasty snack for a cockatoo!
I love the comfortable nibbling noises the birds make. Every now and then they chatter to each other too, as you can hear towards the end of this next video:
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos are large birds, quite a lot bigger than the more common white cockatoo. They have a dignified, graceful presence. It feels like a privilege to have them drop by. We planted the Old Man Banksia (Banksia serrata)a few years ago, with the goal of feeding the local bird life. It looks like our plan is working.
Two of the birds flew up into a Sydney Red Gum that towers over our house, for a quiet grooming session. It’s cute how attentive the groomer is, even returning to her job when she notices that her companion still has an intractable itch. When she stops for the second time, he reprimands her and she returns to the task yet again.
The bird with the pinkish-red ring around his eye is the male. The females have grey eye rings and a lighter-coloured bill. Here’s a still shot of the male, looking content after a good grooming from his mate:
Common name: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus funereus
Approximate length: 65 cm
Date spotted: 20 October 2018 (Spring)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia
The Sydney Red Gum (Angophora costata) is a beautiful tree. I took this shot of it a couple of weeks ago, when the rain was making interesting patterns on the bark:
Call of the Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Today I spotted a group of Glossy Black-Cockatoos, and I recorded a video so you can hear them chatting to each other. For two consecutive weeks I’ve seen a group of these birds at Manly Dam Reserve. I guess they’re the same birds each time, though on opposite sides of the dam. According to my bird book, this bird is reasonably uncommon, perhaps declining in number.
It’s a short video. As I was recording it, a bush ranger drove up and startled the birds. They flew off and came towards me, which gives you a good view of the orange-red flashes in their tails.
Last week’s post has still pictures of a Glossy Black-Cockatoo, probably from the same group.
Common name: Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus lathami
Approximate length: 50cm
Date spotted: 3 March 2018 (Summer)
Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’49.2″S 151°15’04.1″E
Sydney Birder 