Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Black Cockatoos shred the Pine Cones

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos ("Black Cockies") (Calyptorhynchus funereus) have been having a lot of fun shredding Pine Cones recently, in the Robertson district.

Presumably this is a fact related to the ripeness of the seeds in the local Pine Cones.


Their efforts are clearly visible underneath pine trees in the local district, in the form of chips of pine cones strewn underneath the trees. Of course, the birds spread the seeds of the Pines, which are slowly becoming a weed in the Robertson Area. But we can hardly blame the Cockies, can we?



These weird and wonderful birds have a very distinctive slow-beating flight, as is apparent in these three frames of a Black Cocky flying in (there is little "blur" in the wings). She was flying in, to join her mates in a Pine Tree (Pinus radiata) outside the local CTC, in Robertson.

This last "flight" shot shows the bird gliding in to land in the Pine Tree.

Female (left) and male (right)
beak colour comparisons.

The female bird has brown skin around the eye, not pink, as in males; also a white top beak - males have a black upper mandible.
Click on the images, to enlarge.
Have a look at the photos and the article about them in Birds in Backyards.






She is just starting to shred this pine cone. She had previously "picked" the cone very neatly from a cluster of cones out on a growing tip of a branch. She then carried it (flying) to a broader branch where she could attack it conveniently.

I tried to catch the bird carrying the cone in her beak, but the movement was so sudden that all I got was a blur of wings and tail.





Quite literally, she shredded the entire cone in about 10 minutes.

The yellow under-tail feathers are clearly visble in this photo. These feathers are very obviously yellow when the tail is spread as the birds take off and land.

Is it an urban myth that Cockies are predominantly left handed?
This one certainly is. Many do seem to use their left foot to hold food.


5 comments:

Joe said...

What a feeling it must be to watch these magnificent birds in the wild.

Denis Wilson said...

I love them, and laugh at them, at the same time. Weird birds. They have a really eerie wailing call. Spooky.
Glad you enjoy them.
I saw group of 5 Gang Gang Cockatoos today. I will post images in a couple of days.

Denis

Joe said...

If I remember correctly, the Gang Gang is extremely rare and have the funny crest for a Too.

I was confusing the Palm and the Black species that you captured on your camera.

I recall the Palm being more common inn Indonesia? There are some in in Australia?

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Joe
Well done. Gang Gangs are on our "Threatened Species" lists. In fact they are common in Canberra in winter,w hen they come into the city and eat berries on Hawthorn trees, which are of course, introduced trees, used a street trees. The ones I saw today were eating Hawthorns too - wild ones growing (as weeds) beside a road.
Unfortunately only females and immature males with only partly red heads. Their crest is a very frilly, whispy thing. Not like the solid crest feathers of the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo.
Male GangGangs are beautiful things.
I have not published today as I have been out all day taking photos of Orchids, then processing the photos. I'll put the Cockatoo photos up soon.

Denis Wilson said...

We do have the Great Palm Cockatoo in far north Queensland. I have never seen them.
Our Black Cockatoos are big, but not as heavy in the beak as that bird.
I think you are right about them going into New Guinea and Indonesia. Many of our tropical parrots spread a little way into Indonesia, as far as Lombok.
Do you know about "Wallace's Line"?
It is the point in Indonesia where Australasian species stop, and the Eurasian fauna begins.