Yesterday a single long-billed species of Corella alighted on the telephone
wires, a bit away from the 20+ little Corella's (Cacatua sanguinea) that
come to my house around dusk every night.
This bird had a bill with a long fine tip, a grey-blue eyering and a minimal
amount of red on the throat. My first impression was Western Corella
(Cacatua pastinator) since I see the introduced Long-billed Corella (Cacatua
tenuirostris) every week on the Northern foreshore of the Swan river and it
looked different from them: more "delicate" and its bill less heavy.
The fact that is was a lone bird in a group of littles, while the eastern
long-bills always operate in groups of 6-8 made me suspect this was a single
vagrant Western long-bill. Sadly, it did not call (hence did not seem to be
on speaking terms with the littles) so I could not compare the sound with
the BOCA recordings.
However, none of my four bird books could give me a conclusive answer and
they are somewhat contradictory when it comes to eye ring colour (grey blue
or marine blue?) amount of red on the throat (none at all or a minor "cut
throat") and amount and location of yellow on underside of tail and wings.
Can anyone give me a fail-safe checklist of features to distinguish between
the true Western long-bill C. pastinator and the "imposters" C.
tenuirostris? I'm going crazy here!
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