Carnaby’s Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) is found only in the south west corner of Western Australia. Clearing is a major threat to its survival and so revegetation is important to conserving the species for the future. 

 

Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo is about 55 cm (21.5 in) long. It is mostly dark grey, with narrow light grey scalloping produced by narrow pale grey margins at the tips of dark feathers. It has a crest of short feathers on its head, with whitish patches of feathers that cover the ears. Its lateral tail feathers are white with black tips, and the central tail feathers all black. The irises are dark brown and the legs brown-grey. Its beak is shorter and broader than that of the closely related and similar long-billed black cockatoo. 

 

Adult males have a dark grey beak and pink eye-rings. Adult females have a bone coloured beak, grey eye-rings and ear patches that are paler than those of the males. Juveniles have a bone coloured beak, grey eye-rings, and less white in the tail feathers.

 

Feeding: 

The cockatoo feeds primarily on seeds of proteaceous plants such as Banksia, Hakea and Grevillea, and secondarily on seeds from myrtaceous plants such as Eucalyptus and Corymbia. 

 

Over fifty native plant species are commonly used for food, either as seed or flowers, and this includes western sheoak, orange wattle, and balga. Invertebrates such as the larvae of wood-boring moths are also eaten. The cockatoos also feed on the seeds of Pinus spp. in the Gnangara pine plantations north of Perth.