Glossy black cockatoos on Kangaroo Island being banded back to recovery after habitat loss in 2019-20 bushfires

The Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo — a separate subspecies to those in New South Wales and Queensland – existed nowhere else,

A record 48 glossy black cockatoo nestlings were banded on Kangaroo Island in 2023 to give crucial data to scientists working to build up numbers of the endangered birds.

The 2019-20 bushfires had a huge impact on the glossy black cockatoo and their feeding habitat at the western end of Kangaroo Island where about 75% of them lived. The number of Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoos in the mid 1990s had dipped to only 158 before banding, predator control and installing nesting boxes brought it up to 450 before the fires. This was thought to be about 420 by 2023, with their growth slowed by the habitat loss.

To help the cockatoos’ recovery, Kangaroo Island Landscape Board planted areas of well-spaced sheoaks that will be able to produce seeds for the birds in under 10 years. In the fire recovery areas, the sheoak rebounded thickly, in some places with up to 400 seedlings per square metre. That meant they had to be thinned out to prevent competition slowing their growth.

The Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo — a separate subspecies to those in New South Wales and Queensland – existed nowhere else. The smallest of Australia’s black cockatoos, it measured around 48 centimetres tall, with a stunning red tail. Adult female had distinct yellow markings on their neck and head, as well as black barring across their red tails that can appear in shades of deep red to orange. Adult males have a dark black-brown head and no barring on their red tail.

The glossy black cockatoos preferred woodlands dominated by drooping sheoak for feeding and stands of tall sugar gum forest for nesting in hollows. Their habitat was mostly on the western end of the island, with others around American River, Penneshaw and areas along the north coast.

Breeding season for glossy black cockatoos was between January and September, with birds tending to pair for life. Glossy Black-cockatoos were especially fussy eaters, feeding only on seed kernels from drooping sheoaks and only on particular trees within a forest. Glossy black cockatoos had only been seen holding sheoak cones with their left foot.