About 4 years or so ago, there was a massive bushfire in the Darling
Range along the Brookton Highway. It seemed to me that following the
fire, Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos began to be reported much more
commonly on the Swan Coastal Plain. I have seen them feeding on
Marri trees and the introduced Cape Lilac which are both reasonably
common on the SCP. They seem to have stayed on the SCP since. There
have even been a couple of reports of them breeding, but I am
uncertain whether this was nest holes, or just adults feeding
juveniles (which may still have bred in the Darling Range).
Last year they seemed to spread out further with reports from
Narrogin and Beverley on the eastern side of the Darling
Range. There are some Marri trees extending that far out.
However, this year there has certainly been a large increase in
sightings of RTBCs on the SCP including many Perth suburbs. I had
some fly past my house in Nedlands (near King's Park) for the first
time. Interestingly, WA has its annual Twitchathon on the second
weekend in December. The two previous years we overnighted at
Dwellingup in the Darling Range (up the hill from Pinjarra). RTBCs
could be heard at every stop around Dwellingup. But this year they
have almost deserted the area. Maybe to the SCP? Not certain
why. This year has been wetter than most. Perhaps the Marri trees
have not set fruit.
PS : They are the south west race "naso" known as the Forest
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. The wheatbelt race "samueli" occurs much
further out from Perth mainly to the north east and north.
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
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