Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos are a subspecies of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos and are endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. They are the easiest to distinguish from other black-cockatoos due to their namesake red tail feathers.
Male Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos are glossy black with scarlet panels on their tails. In comparison, the body feathers of female and juvenile Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoos are black with yellowish and pale orange edges and spots, and their tail feathers have orange stripes. The average size is 55cm.
The Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo has a short call, often sounding like its Noongar name ‘karak’. Bird call recorded by: Martin Cake
Although there are other Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos in Australia, the Forest Red-tailed is the only one found in southwest Western Australia forests. They can be found from Albany to Perth and in some western parts of the wheatbelt region.
Habitat: Woodland, Forest, Urban
As the name suggests, the Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is a forest-dwelling bird, preferring Jarrah, Marri and Sheoak.
Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos are generally seen in small family groups. In recent years they have been seen more frequently in the Perth metropolitan area, as they move into the suburbs to take advantage of exotic street tree species such as Cape Lilac (Melia azedarach).
Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos mainly eat seeds from the nuts of Marri and Jarrah trees but are known to also eat nectar, flowers and sometimes insects and larvae. Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos use their wide bill to extract seeds as Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo do, but their wider bills leave long, flat marks on Marri fruit. They shred the fruit to a greater extent.”
Tree hollows vital for cockatoos to breed in are being lost to fire, taken over by feral bees and other invasive species, and are not being replaced in the landscape. Their breeding season is from late July to October.
The population of this cockatoo has declined because of habitat degradation. Trees with suitable breeding hollows are rapidly being cleared and are in short supply. In addition, food trees have also declined.
