Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos flock for a feed.

This photograph was taken as a flock of Carnaby’s Cockatoo moved from one feeding area to another in the bushland. The flock contained close to 200 birds.

Carnaby’s Cockatoo is a rare species and needs large numbers of Banksia flowers and seeds on which to feed. During feeding the Cockatoo will quite often bite the flower from the tree and lick the nectar – a bit like licking an icecream cone. The flower is then discarded to fall to the ground.

Found only in southwestern Western Australia, it is estimated that there could be as few as 3,000 birds left in the wild. They are under threat from the clearing of nesting habitat in the wheatbelt and development destroying feeding habitat on the Swan Coastal Plain.

Click here to see more about Carnaby’s Cockatoos.