Funeral Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus funereus, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

[@jasperheal7990]

Love your videos, it’s great seeing aussie natives being shown so well and so in depth

[@plumesofoz]

Cheers

[@anserbauer309]

Another wonderful video in this series and one pf my all-time favourite birds. There's some great footage that blends with the narration really well and the information is delivered clearly and concisely. One broad generalisation I would comment on though, is the statement that these birds "don't feed on the ground". Sometimes, they do.... though not for grass seeds. YTBCs are regular visitors at my farm in South-West Vic and on rare occasions, usually in late Autumn, they will descend to the ground under the pines, eucalypts and hawthorn to fossick through the leaf litter where the mushrooms grow. Whether it's the mushrooms themselves or the grubs they harbour they are eating, I couldn't say. Maybe it's the desiccating hawthorn berries under the mushrooms they're after....... whatever the case, they do _sometimes_ feed on the ground. My long-billed corella likes grubs, hawthorn and mushrooms, so maybe it's a bit of everything.

True, but they aren't eating grass seeds or other ground vegetation like white cockatoos, and I believe that's what was correctly being communicated. Foraging on the ground for dropped seeds, cones etc is pretty common.

[@plumesofoz]

Thanks for the comment. They are attracted to Hawthorns like the Gang-gang another arboreal feeder. Yes they do feed on ground seed, especially things like Pecan nuts (And pine nuts I guess like the Sulphur crested do,) that have dropped but not on grass seed. Interesting about the lavae forms. Cheers. Bruce

[@relwaretep]

The noise of these fellas when they decide it's time to strip one of the trees in the park over the back fence oh my!! 😂 Loved the video, thanks mate! Here in Tasmania, leucism seems more common (tho still rare) than elsewhere. White wallabies, possums... Etc.

[@ripme6616]

I've always called them black fellas never seen a white one wow ❤

[@plumesofoz]

Cheeers.

[@NoName-rb6fj]

I love this bird ❤

[@JustOneKnight]

They are beautiful birds, took my breath away when I came across one sitting on a stump just a few meters away from me. We had a moment of uncertainty as to who should move first and those big wings wow you could hear the power behind the lift off. Thank you for this information and beautiful footage. 👍🩷

[@plumesofoz]

Very cool

[@mewrongwayKOCXF]

Another amazing video! Thank You! 👍👍👍

[@plumesofoz]

Cheers.

[@oldlifter530]

Thankyou 😊

[@dorothea-sofiarossellini1286]

Lovely video: thank you. I never knew they were sexually dimorphic. Lots of new details to look for next time they come cruising over my house!

[@ripme6616]

I once seen what I can only describe as two megaflocks one after the other about half way back from the Central coast to sydney I seen about a 100'000 Come right over and when i turned back after a little while i seen the same number coming up the rear

[@plumesofoz]

Wow. What a sight.

[@jakerubino3233]

We get some small flocks of them in and around the outer metropolitan suburbs in Adelaide and more towards the southern coasts towards Victor Harbour and Cape Jervois. Probably my favourite Australian bird call would be this wonderful birds solo flight call.

[@plumesofoz]

Thanks for the comment

[@ripme6616]

This is my totem spirit Par excellence Numero Uno I never knew of their morbid namesake😅

[@ripme6616]

This Affinity has greatly enhanced A Real Bond

[@plumesofoz]

Cheers.

Some nice footage. Have to make a few corrections here though. Birdlife AU also unfortunately now uses Zanda as the genus. At the 3 minute mark your "playful young birds" are actually adult males displaying/interacting. Normal behaviour for all adult YTBC as they can be very playful and acrobatic up in the trees. At 5:00 where you say the young "has been weaned" but still calling to be fed. That bird is still very much dependent hence begging and will do for up to one year. The "old male mottled bird" isn't mottled or old. It's leucism with yellow markings on face (not white). The same as the all yellow bird at end just less extreme. It's actually a young male (pale top bill). If the bill was dark there's still no way of knowing if it's an old bird. Where you note the male eye ring takes 3 years to develop - actually 1-2 years usually and many start to develop it in first year while still dependent; some of which appear in your video e.g. 6:15 in the pine (bird on left) and at the beginning around 1:47 where you label bird on the left as female, that's a first year dependent juvenile male (eye ring already forming) - note behaviour and vocalisations of juveniles and black on bill. Many juvs have temporary black on top bill regardless of sex which is not the same as the bill darkening of adult males. Hope you don't mind my input. Source... hundreds of hours spent with this species and thousands of photos. I'll be putting a YTBC video on my parrots channel at some point.

[@plumesofoz]

Thanks for the update. Binomial naming is always controversial. Mathews was a brilliant ornithologist but was always in conflict with the previous historical birdlife organizations. I don't know exactly what Zanda means and he gives a great historical perspective in his Birds of Australia vol4 on the naming of the Calyptorhynchus subspecies, he does not explain Zanda in those volumes but applies it to the Black Cockatoos. His correspondence and works are in the New York Museum, and I suspect the Americans have combed his correspondence to give Zanda priority over Calyptorhynchus. It is assumed to be an indigenous term, but I have not read anything conclusive. Thanks for the comment I rever Mathews and he was born close to where I live. Bruce

[@dorothea-sofiarossellini1286]

Who are these northern hemisphere-ists to tell us what the genus name is! I far prefer Calyptorynchus anyway.

[@cherith4943]

Great video but have you seen what they do with the banksia flowers? Pinched into neat segments of about 1cm then dropped, the ground underneath looks like it has suddenly flowered with large yellow circular blossoms😂

[@plumesofoz]

And the pecan nuts I was hoping to eat went the same way. Thanks for the comment. Bruce

[@fernandocanelas7364]

Top, top top 👍💚🇵🇹

[@ripme6616]

A fire just burnt out a third of the Piliga. It might slow the flogging of last of white Cypress logging trucks up?

[@plumesofoz]

A stronghold of the glossy. Unfortunately, the Cypress also burns so no timber no feed no birds. Thanks for the update.

[@richardhills235]

Best weather forcaster even better than the news.beautiful birds but corellas are taking nesting places.i love these birds red n black my favorate.

[@nikehusk3849]

Funeral cockatoo - hope it doesn’t visit you that often.😅

[@plumesofoz]

Me to.

[@mksamy9034]

🥰👌👍🦜🇮🇳👌👌👍👍

[@AaronHahnStudios]

Do you have a house? Well then YOU are to, the cause of this.