birding-aus

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo in Mildura?

To: Tim Dolby <>
Subject: Red-tailed Black Cockatoo in Mildura?
From: Michael Todd <>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:26:20 +1000
Hi all,

A few years ago there was a lone Red-tailed Black-cockatoo in the riverina of NSW (south of Hay) for a few months. I don't know what happened to it in the end. David Parker (now at Griffith) saw it a few times I believe- I'm not sure who the original observer was.

Alan Morris might know more details about this bird and those sightings.

Cheers

Mick Todd

?-- Michael Todd
Wildlifing: Images of Nature: www.wildlifing.com
PhD Candidate- Tasmanian Masked Owl
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 05, Hobart, Tasmania 7001
Mobile: o41o 123715




Tim Dolby wrote:
Has anyone else seen one in this area? Could it perhaps be an aviary escapee?

This is actually a really interesting question. Turning the question on its 
head: if the bird is not an escapee where is it from?

A quick look over some recent records (from Birds Australia's Atlas and Eremaea) the nearest population to Mildura is not from Victoria but NSW, with RTBC being recorded along the Darling River near Menindee and Billilla Station at Wilcannia.
In South Australia there is a record from near Swan Reach on the Murray, and 
from Keith and Bordertown.

While in Victoria there are records from the near Kaniva and Nhill. (There is 
also an historical BOCA record from 1945 at Flagstaff Hill at Wyperfeld 
National Park.)

So I would suggest that the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo in Mildura is probably 
not from Victoria but from the NSW population, moving south along the Darling 
River.

Cheers,
Tim Dolby


-----Original Message-----
From:  on behalf of Paul Dodd
Sent: Sun 7/29/2007 8:52 PM
To: 
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Red-tailed Black Cockatoo in Mildura?
Hi everyone,

We're just back from our weekend birding in Mildura, Hattah-Kulkyne National
Park and surrounds. I'll detail what we saw in a separate post in the next
few days. However, one remarkable sighting was a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
on a street light on Deakin Avenue, Mildura, very close to the city centre
(around the Eleventh St intersection). I was driving from the airport to the
city centre when I noticed the bird on a street light on the other side of
the road (actually all the street lights are in the median strip in the
centre of the road, extending to the right or left over the inbound and
outbound lanes). I didn't tell my wife, what I'd seen - only that I had seen
something interesting and needed to turn around to get another look.  After
turning around, I pulled over where I thought I'd seen the Cockatoo, but
couldn't immediately see it, so I got my binoculars and camera out of the
car. Meanwhile, my wife was looking at the streetlights and said that she'd
just seen a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo fly off! It was only then that I told
her that that was what I had seen... Unfortunately, neither of us got a
chance to take a photo before the bird flew.

This strikes me a quite an unusual sighting - I checked "The New Atlas of
Australian Birds" and there seems to be no record for Mildura - also the
Pizzey and Knight field guide has no mention of this species being found in
this area.

Has anyone else seen one in this area? Could it perhaps be an aviary escape?
Or were both Ruth and myself seeing things - quite independently of course!

Thanks,
Paul Dodd


-----Original Message-----
From:  on behalf of Paul Dodd
Sent: Sun 7/29/2007 8:52 PM
To: 
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Red-tailed Black Cockatoo in Mildura?
Hi everyone,

We're just back from our weekend birding in Mildura, Hattah-Kulkyne National
Park and surrounds. I'll detail what we saw in a separate post in the next
few days. However, one remarkable sighting was a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
on a street light on Deakin Avenue, Mildura, very close to the city centre
(around the Eleventh St intersection). I was driving from the airport to the
city centre when I noticed the bird on a street light on the other side of
the road (actually all the street lights are in the median strip in the
centre of the road, extending to the right or left over the inbound and
outbound lanes). I didn't tell my wife, what I'd seen - only that I had seen
something interesting and needed to turn around to get another look.  After
turning around, I pulled over where I thought I'd seen the Cockatoo, but
couldn't immediately see it, so I got my binoculars and camera out of the
car. Meanwhile, my wife was looking at the streetlights and said that she'd
just seen a Red-tailed Black Cockatoo fly off! It was only then that I told
her that that was what I had seen... Unfortunately, neither of us got a
chance to take a photo before the bird flew.

This strikes me a quite an unusual sighting - I checked "The New Atlas of
Australian Birds" and there seems to be no record for Mildura - also the
Pizzey and Knight field guide has no mention of this species being found in
this area.

Has anyone else seen one in this area? Could it perhaps be an aviary escape?
Or were both Ruth and myself seeing things - quite independently of course!

Thanks,

Paul Dodd


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