Black Cockatoos

[33South]

Had a visit from 3 pairs of these this afternoon, hand held telephoto, close enough thank you - they have real mean beaks.
To get a sense of their size I've included a pic of a tail feather one kindly dropped a while back.

[iceman]

Excellent photos, thanks Chris.

When I was at Leura Cascades over last xmas holidays, a couple were sitting in a tree not more than 2-3 metres from me. By the time I got my camera out to take a snap, they took off. Very loud and noisy with their crunching on all the pine cones and stuff.

[ving]

bigg buggers arent they! :)
nice action pics there chris :)

[Dujon]

Pretty neat photos, Chris.

At a guess I'd say they're Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos and, yes, they grow to some considerable size, anywhere from 550 - 650 mm. We occasionally see them over fly us here in the lower mountains but I can't say that we've had many up that close. We do get the odd Red-Tail but the Sulphur-Crested is the most common, particularly when the white gums are flowering, though they tend to be smaller than your lot.

[33South]

Thanks for the comments guys.


Yes thats how I had time to go and get the camera, I heard them coming up the valley and assumed they might be heading for one of my big pine trees -they love those pine nuts.

[RB]

Great shots Chris, these guys are huge and very strong.

[astroron]

Are you guys with your Avitars of you when you where younger, missing your misspent youth:sadeyes: :rofl: :rofl:

[Achilles61]

They have a reputation of bringing bad weather (or maybe that's just Tas).

[iceman]

Welcome to IIS Achilles!

:welcome:

[ving]

welcome aboard! :)

[RB]

I've heard that too.
Welcome to IIS too btw.

:thumbsup: