Black Cockatoos

33South (Chris) · #1 27-08-2006, 04:42 PM

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 (Mike) · #2 28-08-2006, 06:05 AM

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 (David) · #3 28-08-2006, 10:54 AM

bigg buggers arent they!

nice action pics there chris

Dujon · #4 28-08-2006, 11:17 AM

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 (Chris) · #5 28-08-2006, 12:21 PM

Thanks for the comments guys.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

.....Very loud and noisy with their crunching on all the pine cones and stuff.

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.