Black Cockatoo

While most Cockatoos are white or pale colored, there are several species of Black Cockatoo birds. The most common among them are the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii,) the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus,) and the Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami.) Each black cockatoo species includes several subspecies. All of them are native to Australia. They occur in a variety of habitats, but prefer grasslands, open woodlands, and mountainous forests. Many Cockatoos well adapt to humans and live in parks and suburbs of big cities.

Black Cockatoo birds are usually large. The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is the largest of all cockatoos and of Australian parrots. Its body size reaches 65 cm in length; its weight is about 800 g. In some Black Cockatoos, both sexes look much alike and differ only in eye-ring and beak color. The Red-tailed and Glossy Black Cockatoos are characterized by sexual dimorphism. Their females are smaller, with a smaller beak and tail than in males. Like all Cockatoos, these birds feed on a variety of seeds, fruit, and insects. Not wholly migratory, Black Cockatoos move away from areas of high humidity in summer.

It’s difficult to buy a Black Cockatoo outside Australia. These birds are rare and not normally bred in aviaries. Among Black Cockatoos, only the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is adaptable to aviculture. Exporting wild-caught birds from Australia is illegal, because all these birds are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act. Though generally listed as the Least Concern, some subspecies of Black Cockatoos are vulnerable because of habitat destruction (deforestation) and illegal trapping for pet trade.

Hand-reared Black Cockatoos are very expensive, as they are difficult to hand-feed. Breeding these birds in captivity is not complicated. The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is the most popular pet among other Black Cockatoos. These birds are hardy and long lived, but very hard to maintain. They require plenty of space, much attention, and communication with humans. Present-day aviculturists avoid crossbreeding Black Cockatoo subspecies. In the USA and Europe, a Black Cockatoo is often a mixture of several subspecies, because many aviculturists of the 1990s bred popular Cockatoos without much attention to their origin and subspecies.