I had a great delight yesterday morning as I put out our bin for our weekly collection of rubbish. No - putting out the bin is NOT the highlight of my week. It is a neccessary activity once a week before midday every Tuesday.
As I was returning along our driveway I heard the unmistakeable call of a cockatoo. Two in fact. High in the sky to the west of our five acre (2 hectare) block on the outskirts of Murray Bridge I saw two Yellow-Tailed Black-Cockatoos (YTBC). This was a new species to add to our home list.
YTBCs are widespread across much of South-Eastern Australia. I have seen small flocks of them some 60km to the west in the Mt. Lofty Ranges. I have also recorded a few at Meningie some 80km south of here. I have also seen large flocks of over 100 at Coonalpyn about 90km South-East of here and even larger flocks in the South-East of South Australia. This is my first record of this species in or near Murray Bridge. The habitat is generally not suitable for them. The native pines east of the River Murray may sustain a small population for a limited time but there would be few large nesting hollows present to attract them to breed in this area.
It was a delightful start to the day. Unfortunately they flew over too quickly to get out the camera. To see a photograph and a drawing of this species click here.
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