The
yellow-tailed black cockatoo (
Zanda funerea) is a large
cockatoo native to the south-east of
Australia measuring 55–65 cm (22–26 in) in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its
plumage is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yellow cheek patches and a yellow tail band. The body feathers are edged with yellow giving a scalloped appearance. The adult male has a black
beak and pinkish-red
eye-rings, and the female has a bone-coloured beak and grey eye-rings. In
flight, yellow-tailed black cockatoos flap deeply and slowly, with a peculiar heavy fluid motion. Their loud, wailing calls carry for long distances. The yellow-tailed black cockatoo is found in
temperate forests and forested areas across south and central eastern
Queensland to southeastern
South Australia, including a very small population persisting in the
Eyre Peninsula. Two
subspecies are recognised, although
Tasmanian and southern mainland populations of the southern subspecies
xanthanotus may be distinct enough from each other to bring the total to three. Birds of subspecies
funereus (Queensland to eastern
Victoria) have longer wings and tails and darker plumage overall, while those of
xanthanotus (western Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania) have more prominent scalloping.
The subspecies
whiteae is found south of Victoria to the East of South Australia and is smaller in size.
The yellow-tailed black cockatoo's diet primarily includes seeds of native and introduced plants while also feeding on wood-boring grubs. They
nest in large hollows high in old growth native trees (~ greater than 200 years old), generally
Eucalyptus regnans. Although they remain common throughout much of their range,
fragmentation of habitat and loss of large trees suitable for nesting has caused population decline in Victoria and South Australia. Furthermore, the species may lose most of its mainland range due to climate change. In some places yellow-tailed black cockatoos appear to have partially adapted to recent human alteration of landscape and they can often be seen in parts of urban
Canberra,
Sydney,
Adelaide and
Melbourne. The species is not commonly seen in
aviculture, especially outside Australia. Like most
parrots, it is protected by
CITES, an international agreement that makes trade, export, and import of listed wild-caught species illegal. (
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