Gday Anthony
So far as I’m concerned you’d need an expert to age
this bird. I’m confident that it’s not a male (eye ring) or (probably)
an adult female (bill colour – not ‘bone white’).
These birds are not ‘black’. They are ‘blackish-brown’,
the colour appearing browner when exposed to strong light, whether sunlight or
flash.
I can report the following about it:
·
Giving a repeated rasping call that might be labelled ‘begging’
or ‘complaining’ (consider courtship begging)
·
Tail markedly shorter – by about a quarter – than other
adults in party (query moult)
·
Eye-ring grey-black
·
Bill grey-white, marked darker grey
·
Some outer undertail coverts marked on outer side (not
tipped) pale yellow
More detailed images below. G
From: Overs, Anthony (REPS)
[
Sent: Monday, 19 February 2007 10:45 AM
To: Geoffrey Dabb; Cog line
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Black Cockatoos
Geoffrey, how browner does the plumage look compared to an adult,
and how much is this bird affected by your flash (assuming that the glint in
his eye is flash)?
The guides say young ones have a grey eye ring, similar to an adult
female, and the plumage is browner with the pale feather margins more
prominent.
I remember delivering a road-killed YTBC to Dick Schodde at the
ANWC. It looked like a young brown-ish bird to me. Dick, without even blinking,
said it was a young male. I can’t remember how he picked the sex of a
young one.
Anthony
