Black Cockies

I love these fellas. They would be up there in the list of my favourites and they are definitely my favourite cocky.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, I don't know what it is that makes me love them. They are noisy, that is for sure. They are messy and sometime destructive but still I love seeing them and hearing them. Maybe it stems from when they used to annually come and strip our white cedar tree on the Darling Downs.

Last week I saw the local flock at Yorkey's Knob. They were feasting in the trees.

I usually see them on the light posts along the highway when I'm heading to work in the evening meaning I can't stop to capture them preening and arguing.

I had no idea they were hanging out at the beach, I'd just headed there for a beach walk.

Finding them at Yorkey's was certainly a bonus.

There were definitely more females than males.

The females have more yellow coloured striped panels in their tail and yellow spots. The males have bright red panels in their tail.

As juveniles both males and females look pretty similar with the males changing feather colour at around 4yrs old.

The Wildlife Dome in Cairns have a male called something like Polly because he changed colour a bit late.

So this is a species where the female is the one with the fancier pants on.

They weren't at all bothered by the fact that I was there. They'd watch me for a while but continue eating and grooming.

They are quite a large bird, bigger than the White Cockatoos around here and I know from handling the ones at the Wildlife Dome they are pretty heavy too.

I was hoping they would still be there this week but when I headed to Yorkey's yesterday but there wasn't a Black Cocky in sight. 

What a thrill seeing these beauties up close in the wild.

What birds are hanging around your place?

Do you like black cockies?

Have you come upon something pretty cool but very unexpected recently?