Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is one of Australia's largest cockatoos, cloaked in sooty blackish-brown plumage with each body feather finely edged in a lighter tone, giving a scalloped appearance. It has a prominent yellow patch on the ear coverts and broad yellow panels in the tail, barred with black.

Males and females differ: males have a dark bill and a pink-red eye-ring, while females have a whitish-grey bill, a grey eye-ring, and a paler, more heavily marked yellow ear patch.

Key field marks

• Very large, mostly blackish cockatoo
• Bright yellow ear patch on an otherwise dark head
• Yellow tail panels barred with black
• Slow, deep, floppy wingbeats in flight

Similar species

The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) shows red (not yellow) tail panels in males, and females have a spotted rather than solid ear patch and orange-barred tail. Range overlaps in parts of southeastern Australia, but tail and cheek color readily separate the two.

Range

Found in southeastern Australia from southeastern Queensland through New South Wales, Victoria, southeastern South Australia, Tasmania and Kangaroo Island.

Habitat

Occupies eucalypt forest and woodland, coastal heath, and pine plantations, often seen in small flocks flying high overhead between feeding areas.

Movement

Mostly sedentary, though some populations move locally or altitudinally in response to food availability.

Voice

A far-carrying, drawn-out wailing call, often rendered as "kee-ow" or "wy-la," given in flight and used to keep flock members in contact; frequently heard well before the birds come into view.

Feeding

Feeds on seeds extracted from eucalypt gumnuts, banksia and hakea cones, and pine cones. Also excavates wood-boring beetle larvae from dead wood and tree trunks, leaving characteristic torn bark and wood shavings at the base of trees.

Breeding

Nests in large hollows in old-growth eucalypts, usually laying a single egg. Breeding is slow, with a long dependency period for the chick, and pairs often reuse favored nest trees over many years.