Beloved Birds

Red-tailed, black cockatoos of Western Australia, with their loud distinctive calls, are classified as a threatened species, mainly due to habitat loss. I took this photo when a small flock temporarily settled, with great noise and attitude, in the gum tree in front of our house, before they moved on to feed in another tree close by. I always find their noisy movement and chatter uplifting as they charge the air with their energy and antics. They can live to fifty years of age and there is concern that a lot of the birds we are now seeing are these older birds and not juveniles, as successfully breeding is affected dramatically by vegetation clearing and lack of tree hollows for nesting. I hope that Perth will stop expanding in the destructive urban sprawl that often forces the clear-felling of bushland, and that we will continue to be visited by these beloved birds for many years to come.

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