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.