For residents of West Leederville (in Perth’s inner suburbia) the second day of February 2025 provided yet another nice reminder that Australia’s birds are – collectively – the world’s loudest..and the most intelligent.
Hereabouts, late last Sunday afternoon was something of a “benign riot” for one species: Calyptorhynchus banksii naso – the Forest red-tailed black cockatoo.
Their presence in Perth’s western suburbs is both a “bad news” and a “good news” story.
Until a little after the beginning of the present century they were never here; red-tails are forest birds.
”Bad news”: a great deal of this species’ preferred habitat has “disappeared”, “thanks” to Homo sapiens.
Red-tails’ preferred food sources are now in critically short supply, as are the venerable forest trees that provide nesting hollows.
”Good news”: these intelligent birds have “discovered” that some of the “new” trees in the streets of the nearby metropolis produce edible fruits/nuts.
Further good news: as the red-tails have “moved in on suburbia” they have discovered that most Perth residents welcome their presence.
Not so many years ago, almost every red-tail I encountered in local streets was very wary; now, many are well aware of any local human’s proximity, but are no longer alarmed by it.
You can see and discover much more via this link; the Red-tails in suburba series is best-read/seen in its intended order – the “teaser” first, followed by first chapter in series-proper, & so on…
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