A Special Visitor but no pics!

I had a really special visitor this afternoon, we get black cockatoos flying over pretty regularly, sometimes they'll stop in the gum tree out the front before moving on, but today one of them landed in a small tree at the back of the house calling out to his mates. Then he came down and landed on the bird bath, had a look around and a good drink, over to the pool fence for a bit, back to the bird bath for a few more minutes, he was very thirsty and back up to the tree before he and his mates who were nearby were ready to move on.

i really wish i could have taken a photo but it would have scared him off but i have never seen one so close before, just a couple of metres away, he was gorgeous! and i feel so priviledged that he thought my birdbath was worthy

the black cockatoos are my favourite birds, they are just so graceful and i love the way they call out to each other, i always stop to look when i hear them coming so this was really special for me

They are a big beautiful bird, you are so lucky. Hopefully, the old saying is right and you have some rain coming soon... actually there is some substance to the saying as seed pods start to split open before rain and somehow the cockys sense it so my fingers are crossed for you.

How wonderful for you Ota..

Oh you lucky lady, Ota!!

WoW, they are such a great looking bird Ota

They sure are.. The Male is certainly the most colourful.
I am assuming you are talking about the red tail black and not the yellow tail one
I think the yellow tail is more over the east coast


Here is a pic of a Red Tail Female or junior taken at Currumbin Sanctuary last year.

What a lovely, welcome visitor to have, Ota.

Gail wrote:

They are a big beautiful bird, you are so lucky. Hopefully, the old saying is right and you have some rain coming soon... actually there is some substance to the saying as seed pods start to split open before rain and somehow the cockys sense it so my fingers are crossed for you.

That makes sense to me...fingers crossed Ota.

It has measles, I thought they where a pure black colour

A/site with detailed info.of Red Tailed Blacks You were so lucky to have it so close.
http://bird.net.au/bird/index.php?title=Red-tailed_Black-Cockatoo

Thanks Gwen, that answers my Q?, us goils are da pruddy ones for a change

Measles Cheryl you can always Google and check up..

I'm too lazy

Plus I remember back around 4 years ago when The Gardening Aust, forum was about I used to say I lurrrvv googled I was BANNED Silly ol' cow, now they have a message board and it is crap Actually I was banned a few times unde several log ons LOL, I know The EstATE wnt 1st. Then it was Pussywillow, but eenie meenie minie moe never did get banned, Geezzz what a lot of empty heads where over there in the Mod Squad LOL Ahhh seems so long ago, my first into to any sort of a forum

thanks everyone, and i hope you're right about the rain gail! i swear it's like they use a map because they pass directly over my house like they're taking the same route to somewhere. it was one of these guys the baudins black cockatoo, and i think he was actually a she! because i remember the eyes had grey skin around them

http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/cockatoocare/baudins.asp


thee i also thought they were completely black, so it was a real surprise to see this one up close and realise how much white they have on the feathers! very different markings too to that really pretty one ma posted so they must all be different close up

It's amazing how many species of Black Cockatoo there are... I had no idea till I Googled

How wonderful Ota. That was a great info site Gwen. So sad that these wonderful birds are endangered.

We get the black cockatoos with yellow on the tails - I have forgotten the name - but whenever I think "gosh that is a lot of squarking" it is usually a black as they are much louder than the usual cockatoos. The ones I get are less endangered. But I also think the rain will come as there are banksia and other tall pines near me that they eat and as Gail says, the humidity helps them to get the cones open. Like you, it is always so sudden when they come and I stand there just looking that I never get a pic.

pamela it breaks my heart that these birds are threatened, we have another white tail cockatoo the carnaby's and that is endangered now as the numbers have really declined. There has been some press coverage about fruit growers in the south west shooting these birds and i think they are trying to put a stop to that, but of course there's also the loss of habitat to housing and farming as well. i hate to think we might lose these beautiful birds.