Last year YTBCs seeking grubs nearly destroyed an old tree on the old growth remnant on Percival Hill. I do not judge them! It is we who have felled their forests so that they
can now seem to be damaging a precious tree when once it would have been simply one tree among many, simply a food source in which they would spread their feeding over many trees
From: Philip Veerman <>
Date: Sunday, 31 March 2019 at 11:12 am
To: chatline <>
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo possible ring barking
Well yes an obvious suggestion from Isobel. The YTBC have a well documented strategy of doing that. If I am looking at the right photos on Kym’s gallery, the point
at which they are chewing appears to be only about a metre above ground on a very rough barked tree, that would not begin to deter a goanna, and is too low to be a nest site for YTBC.
From: Isobel Crawford [
Sent: Sunday, 31 March, 2019 10:45 AM
To: Graeme Clifton
Cc: kym bradley; List Mailing
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo possible ring barking
Are they not seeking larvae in the trunk? Many examples on Mount Majura in Eucalyptus brigesiana.
On 29 Mar 2019, at 2:12 PM, Graeme Clifton <> wrote:
Hi Kym,
I enjoy your regularly posted photos to this chatline.
As to the reason that Cockatoos bite the bark off trees, I don’t buy the one about goannas. The reason being that I have seen goannas climb dead trees with no difficulty. The same with feral cats.
However, I don’t have an explanation for this behaviour. It might be related to the activity of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos chewing on balcony timber in the suburbs of Sydney.
Graeme Clifton
On 29 Mar 2019, at 12:07 pm, kym bradley <> wrote:
Male sat on the branch female continued to go around the tree
Wondering if she is in the early stages of ring barking to prevent goannas etc climbing to the nest as the tree is full of possible nest holes for future nesting ?????????????????????
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