A Pair of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos

The artist has certainly captured the beautiful colors of a pair of this

fine Australian Cockatoo; giving the drawing a convincing 3

dimensional look.

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo (south-eastern)

Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne

The nationally endangered south-eastern subspecies of the Red-tailed

Black-Cockatoo is distinguished from rest of the species by its small

size, brightly colored female birds and specialized feeding and breeding requirements.

In Victoria, the South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo occurs from

Portland in south-east to just north of the Little Desert, while in South

Australia it is found from Bangham-Frances to Mt Gambier. Its former distribution may never have been much greater than this, but the extent of occurrence within this range has declined significantly due to habitat loss (c. 60% of habitat in Vic and 80% in SA has been destroyed). The current population is around 700 to 1,000 birds.

These Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo's feed on the seeds of Brown Stringy barks Eucalyptus baxteri / E. arenacea and Bulokes Allocasuarina leuhmannii. For nesting, the Cockatoo's require old River Red Gums E. camaldulensis or Yellow Gums E. leucoxylon with large hollows. Most nest trees are within 2km of suitable feeding habitat.

Much of the feeding habitat used by these birds is protected in State

Forests. However, nesting habitat on private land is disappearing rapidly as a consequence of tree die back, felling of potential nest trees for firewood, and the general intensification of farming (i.e

change from grazing to farm forestry, cropping etc.).

With this drawing comes a signed and dated "Certificate of

Authenticity" by the Artist.

Medium: Colored Pencil on 300gsm cardboard.

Drawn: 2004.

NOTE: This image, or part thereof is subject to world copyright laws.