Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo

Calyptorhynchus banksii

Family: Cacatuidae (Cockatoos, 14 species in Australia)
Size: 63 cm
Distribution: Most of Northern and Western Australia to about 1000-2000 km from the coasts, except within about 50-100 km of the coast of West coast of WA. Small distributions in Southwestern VIC. Occasionally seen as south as Sydney on the East coast.
Status: Common
Habitat: Open forests, farms, pines
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

Not generally seen in the Blue Mountains or Sydney, though I have seen two of them once in the Kuring-Gai Chase National Park in Northern Sydney.

It has red markings under its tail. It does not have a coloured patch on the side of its head like the Yellow-Tailed Black-Cockatoo. However the female (shown below) has small yellow spots on her.

Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo - Calyptorhynchus banksii
Photo: Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney NSW. High Resolution (1499 x 1487)

Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo - Calyptorhynchus banksii
Photo: Featherdale Wildlife Park, Sydney NSW. High Resolution (2588 x 1654)

Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo - Calyptorhynchus banksii
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.

Some Birdwatching Resources

Birdsong, Don Stap. From the promotional material: "Following one of the world's experts on birdsong from the woods of Martha's Vineyard to the tropical forests of Central America, Don Stap brings to life the quest to unravel an ancient mystery: Why do birds sing and what do their songs mean? We quickly discover that one question leads to another. Why does the chestnut-sided warbler sing one song before dawn and another after sunrise? Why does the brown thrasher have a repertoire of two thousand songs when the chipping sparrow has only one? And how is the hermit thrush able to sing a duet with itself, producing two sounds simultaneously to create its beautiful, flutelike melody?"

Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond)

Click here to purchase from Wilderness Awareness School $24.00 USD (May not work)

Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, Peter Slater, Pat Slater and Raoul Slater. This is a smaller field guide, and its advantage is it is easy to carry around. Its size is 21.3 x 11.4 x 2.8 centimetres, or 8.4 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches in the old scale. So it is a good one to get if you want to have your field guide with you out in the field. Unlike most of the field guides it also has illustrations of the eggs of all the birds that breed in Australia. It has very good reviews on Amazon.

Click here to Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Click here to purchase from Australia (The Nile) $28.45 AUD (May be unavailable)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond) May be expensive.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

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