Red-tailed Black-CockatooScientific name: Calyptorhynchus banksii
Meaning of name: Calyptorhynchus is from the Greek words calyptos, meaning hidden, and rhynchos, meaning beak. Banksii is in honour of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), English botanist and zoologist.
Aboriginal name: Karak (car’ark).
Distribution: Found in all mainland states of Australia.
Description: Up to 60cm long.
Notes: There are five subspecies. The subspecies usually found in Perth is naso.
References: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Various contributors.
What Bird is That? Neville W Cayley. 1978
Aboriginal names of bird species in south-west Western Australia, with suggestions for their adoption into common usage. Ian Abbott. 2009. Conservation Science Western Australia Journal. Volume 7 No 2 http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/about-us/science-and-research/76-publications-and-resources/103-conservation-science-wa-journal
The solid red panels in the tail of the lower bird indicate that it is male.
The bands through the red on this tail indicate that the bird is female.
The plain black plumage and solid red tail panel indicates that this is an adult male bird.
The bird sitting by itself on the right is an adult female. The bird in the middle is an adult male. The bird on the left may be a female or a young bird.
This adult female is eating the seed of a Marri tree, Corymbia calophylla.
The plumage differences between the sexes is easily seen here. The male is on the left.
