Red Tailed Black Cockatoos
On what seemed to be the windiest day ever since I had been in Perth, flew in a flock of noisy red tailed black cockatoos. They landed in our silver princess tree, practically clinging to the branches with dear life. In spite of the cold and wind, I ran back into the room to grab my camera. John was at work and would want to see images of their visit, as he really likes these birds.
The species is usually found in eucalyptus woodlands, or along water courses. John told me they aren’t usually found in this area, but they are slowly losing their habitat.
Females are black with yellow-orange stripes in the tail and chest, and yellow grading to red spots on the cheeks and wings.
The male’s plumage is all black with a prominent black crest made up of elongated feathers from the forehead and crown. The bill is dark grey. The tail is also black with two lateral bright red panels.
This one was having a go on the gumnuts of the silver princess tree.
![Several calls of red-tailed black cockatoos have been recorded. The bird's contact call is a rolling metallic krur-rr or kree, which may carry long distances and is always given while flying;[43] its alarm call is sharp.[43] Displaying males vocalize a sequence of soft growling followed by a repetitive kred-kred-kred-kred.[20] Distribution and habitat](http://www.xerraireart.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/redtailedblackcockatoos4.jpg)
Several calls of red-tailed black cockatoos have been recorded. The bird’s contact call is a rolling metallic krur-rr or kree, which may carry long distances and is always given while flying; its alarm call is sharp. Displaying males vocalize a sequence of soft growling followed by a repetitive kred-kred-kred-kred. Trust me, on this day I think they went through their whole repertoire.
I noticed that they couldn’t perch very well in the wind. Everything they tried to do, got interrupted with a gust of wind.
Unfortunately, these magnificent and striking birds never stay around for long.
Too soon, they were off down the street to the next tree.
