Saturday, January 22, 2011

Tale of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii) descend on Indian almonds with strong appetites and stronger beaks.


Males are solid black with red under-tail panels.


Females come with light spots and bars, and barred yellow-red tail panels.


Plenty of action with three or four small flocks interacting today.


But too much cloud to capture glossy glory.
Click pix to enlarge

4 comments:

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Tony
Your photos are great, especially the flight photos.
I love the Black Cockies, but of course I get the Yellow-tailed variety here. Glossies occur near here (but NOT in Robbo as we lack their food plants), but they are rare.
Cheers
Denis

Snail said...

Magnificent birds. Great photos all around, but I especially like the action shot with the fanned tail and almond in beak.

Anonymous said...

Great series of action shots Tony -we watched them feed on wild rice seed at Lakefield last year ... those monstrous beaks are quite adaptable.

Tyto Tony said...

Thanks all. Wouldn't you know it, clearing sky today, but birds elsewhere.

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