Long-billed Black Cockatoo
[order] PSITTACIFORMES | [family] Cacatuidae | [latin] Calyptorhynchus baudinii | [authority] Lear, 1832 | [UK] Long-billed Black Cockatoo | [FR] Cacatoes de Baudin | [DE] Weissschwanz-Russkakadu | [ES] Cacatua Funebre Piquilarga | [NL] Baudin?s bruine kaketoe | [copyright picture] Ian Montgomery
Subspecies
| Genus | Species | subspecies | Region | Range |
| Callocephalon | baudinii | |||
| Calyptorhynchus | baudinii | AU | sw Australia |
Genus
The genus Calyptorhynchus is endemic to Australia. It includes, in addition to the glossy black-cockatoo C. lathami, the red-tailed black-cockatoo C. magnificus, and the C. funereus complex, containing between one and four species of white-tailed and yellow-tailed black-cockatoos. The generic name Calyptorhynchus (?hidden bill?) reflects the fact that members of this genus can fan their cheek feathers forward so that they cover the base of the bill. The members of the Calyptorhynchus genus are not strictly arboreal except for the the gloss black-cockatoo, probably because of their more varied diets. In the genus only the female incubates and broods. They are all mostly black in colour, and the taxa may be differentiated partly by size and partly by small areas of red, grey and yellow plumage especially in the tail feathers. It is the largest genus of the “dark cockatoo” subfamily Calyptorhynchinae which now is recognized to contain also the other sexually dichromatic species
Physical charateristics
Male-in general grey/black plumage, feathers finely margined with dusty white; ear-coverts dusty white; side tail feathers with broad white band near end. Bill dark grey and narrow with elongated tip. Eye ring pink, eye dark brown. Female-ear-coverts brighter, clearer white; bill horn in colour and narrow with elongated tip. Eye ring grey.
| wingspan min.: | 0 | cm | wingspan max.: | 0 | cm |
| size min.: | 55 | cm | size max.: | 60 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 26 | days | incubation max.: | 30 | days |
| fledging min.: | 70 | days | fledging max.: | 77 | days |
| broods: | 1 | eggs min.: | 1 | ||
| eggs max.: | 3 |
Range
Australasia : Southwest Australia, always in forests
Habitat
Restricted to moist, heavily forested areas dominated by marri Eucalyptus calophylla, karri E. diversicolor and jarrah E. marginata. Its overall non-breeding range may be determined by distribution of marri, though it does occur in apple and pear orchards and occasionally in wandoo E. wandoo woodland
Reproduction
It breeds in large hollows of old karri, marri and jarrah within heavily forested areas, although recent work suggests that there are very few nest sites, that breeding occurs very infrequently and that many nest hollows are being taken over by feral bees. Breeding data has indicated that pairs raise, on average, 0.6 chicks each year. In years of poor marri seed production, the population may fail to raise any young at all. The species has a strong association with very large (greater than 1.5m diameter) and old (230-300 years) marri trees, which may exacerbate declines. Usually to eggs in captivity incubated for about 4 weeks. Young fledge after probably 10-11 weeks. In most cases only one young survives to adulthood.
Feeding habits
The species mainly feeds on the seeds and flowers of marri, as well as the seeds of Banksia, Hakea and Dryandra species, Erodium botrys and jarrah, and additionally takes insect larvae. It also feeds on apple and pear seeds4 and is considered a pest owing to the damage it causes when extracting seeds from crops in commercial orchards. Damage to commercial fruit crops is thought to be higher during local or seasonal shortages of marri seeds, and could be related to destruction of this habitat.
Video Long-billed Black Cockatoo
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I1Y3AzfpZU
copyright: Nick Talbot
Conservation
Despite this species having a moderately small population, only about 10% of individuals make up the breeding population, and numbers are in decline. The species is therefore listed as Endangered.
Up to a quarter of the species’s habitat has been cleared for agriculture, with 8,933,294 m of marri harvested during 1976-1998. The past and present impacts of logging for marri, initially for woodchips and now for furniture grade sawlogs, are reducing the availability of food and nesting trees. The impact of logging and woodchipping has not been quantified. Although logging of old growth forest in the south-west has now stopped, habitat loss is still likely to be causing population declines, and a sawlog industry based on marri has now been proposed with a projected minimum bole log harvest of 286,000 m3 per annum. Feral bees have been found to occupy many potential nest sites, and are known to have caused the loss of chicks and killed a brooding female. Although the species has been fully protected since 1996, illegal shooting by orchardists still occurs. It is not known whether losses from shooting exceed productivity. Continued loss of forest to mining in some areas is also an issue, since revegetation will have no impact on conservation outcomes within the lifespan of this species. Competition for nests from Wood Ducks Chenonetta jubatta is thought to be increasing as duck numbers increase in the south-west.
Up to a quarter of the species’s habitat has been cleared for agriculture, with 8,933,294 m of marri harvested during 1976-1998. The past and present impacts of logging for marri, initially for woodchips and now for furniture grade sawlogs, are reducing the availability of food and nesting trees. The impact of logging and woodchipping has not been quantified. Although logging of old growth forest in the south-west has now stopped, habitat loss is still likely to be causing population declines, and a sawlog industry based on marri has now been proposed with a projected minimum bole log harvest of 286,000 m3 per annum. Feral bees have been found to occupy many potential nest sites, and are known to have caused the loss of chicks and killed a brooding female. Although the species has been fully protected since 1996, illegal shooting by orchardists still occurs. It is not known whether losses from shooting exceed productivity. Continued loss of forest to mining in some areas is also an issue, since revegetation will have no impact on conservation outcomes within the lifespan of this species. Competition for nests from Wood Ducks Chenonetta jubatta is thought to be increasing as duck numbers increase in the south-west.
Migration
After breeding family groups form larger groups which might wander in search of food
Distribution map
