Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Fauna Owen Springs ReserveOwen Springs Reserve Birds Australian Hobby Black Kite Brown Falcon Brown Goshawk Galah Great Cormorant Little Black Cormorant Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Splendid Fairy-wren

Endemic to Australia, the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) is a grey-black to glossy black in colour with an erectile crest, that forms a rounded helmet shape when it is raised and pushed forward.

A popular bird, the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo pictured here were sighted in Owen Springs Reserve in Central Australia.

The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo have a large bill, the male having a darker bill to the female. The male cockatoo has bright red panels in its tail, whilst the female cockatoo have a more yellow-orange-red barred panels in its tail.

The female cockatoo have fine yellow spots on the head with yellow barring across the breast. The juveniles have similar markings to the female cockatoo, with paler yellow barred underparts. This remain until puberty (this occurs around four years of age), when reaching maturity, the male cockatoos yellow tail feathers are gradually replaced with red ones. This process takes approximately four years. The juveniles also have a duskier coloured bill.

Check out our section in Fauna | Birds | Parrots | Red-tailed Black Cockatoo and our blog Strike a pose.

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• Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Psittaciformes
• Family: Cacatuidae
• Genus: Calyptorhynchus
• Subgenus: Calyptorhynchus
• Species: Calyptorhynchus banksii
• Subspecies:
  • C. b. banksii
  • C. b. graptogyne
  • C. b. macrorhynchus
  • C. b. naso
  • C. b. samueli

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Fauna Owen Springs ReserveOwen Springs Reserve Birds Australian Hobby Black Kite Brown Falcon Brown Goshawk Galah Great Cormorant Little Black Cormorant Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Splendid Fairy-wren

Owen Springs ReserveAttractions Redbank Waterhole Fauna Flora