Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksii

Length 55–60 cm; weight 570–870 g.

A gregarious species, the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is often seen in large flocks, though it also occurs in pairs and trios.  It is an active, noisy and conspicuous species which is mainly arboreal, spending much of the day feeding, sometimes in a loose association with Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos.  At sunset, flocks of this species are often seen flying high, returning from feeding areas to roosts in large trees along the banks of rivers or streams.  They may be less wary while feeding than at other times, and generally do not allow a close approach by an observer, readily taking flight and screeching loudly.  Their flight is buoyant and laboured, with slow deep beats of long broad wings, similar to that of the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo.  They usually fly above the treetops, typically spiralling down to feeding trees, though they sometimes descend in a sustained glide on strongly bowed wings.

HABITAT
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos occur in a wide variety of habitats.  In south-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia, they are generally restricted to Brown Stringybark forests or woodlands, usually with peripheral stands of River Red Gum, Yellow Gum or Buloke, and often in remnants surrounded by cleared agricultural land, or along roadsides.  Elsewhere in south-eastern Australia, the species often occurs on open riverine plains, mainly near eucalypts along the larger watercourses, and also associated with nearby open casuarina woodlands.  They breed in holes or hollow limbs of old trees, mainly eucalypts, especially dead ones, which have deeper hollows, mostly in or at edge of patches of Brown Stringybark woodland in pasture, or in remnant copses of River Red Gums, and very occasionally in Yellow Gum or Manna Gum.  In south-eastern Australia, the species mostly forages arboreally, especially in fruiting Brown Stringybark (not Red Stringybark), but it also occasionally uses thickets and woodlands dominated by casuarinas, banksias, hakeas and acacias, especially if they have been burnt recently.  They seldom feed on the ground in south-eastern Australia.

DISTRIBUTION
Endemic to mainland Australia, with five subspecies occurring in eight discrete populations.

STATUS

• Vulnerable in New South Wales
• Endangered in Victoria
• Endangered in South Australia
• Endangered (South-Eastern) in EPBC Act

THREATS
In south-western Victoria and south-eastern SA, populations of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo are threatened by the clearing of remnant woodlands for agriculture, firewood or softwood plantations, and the regeneration of these woodlands is prevented by fuel-reduction burning and grazing activities.  The species may have retreated into the Lower Glenelg National Park after areas of Brown Stringybark woodland were cleared in adjacent areas; the species is often restricted to relict patches of woodland along roadsides or in otherwise cleared paddocks.

MOVEMENTS
The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is widely considered to be dispersive, though in some areas a seasonal element to its movements is imposed by the regular fruiting of some food plants.

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