Sabrina Hahn: How to help save endangered West Australian Carnaby’s black cockatoos from extinction

All three West Australian species of black cockatoos are in danger of becoming extinct due to loss of habitat and starvation.

Lack of action to help save habitat from development and global warming will have a drastic impact on these birds. Unfortunately for the Carnaby’s black cockatoo it is only a matter of years before they become extinct, given the rate of habitat destruction.

Reports from Perth Zoo, Kaarrakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre, Carnaby’s Crusaders and WA Wildlife Hospital are all reporting emaciated cockatoos that are starving and well below their normal weight.

Over the next six months the population of these cockatoos will decline sharply because food resources for these birds are already at critical levels in both urban and rural settings.

Urban populations of Carnaby’s around Perth have long relied on introduced species such as pine plantations, which replaced natural food sources in the early and mid-20th century. Carnaby’s adapted to this food source and also began utilising the mature pines as roosting sites due to the lack of suitable native options.

In recent months all but 1800ha of the Gnangara pine plantation has been removed, including four of the five largest Carnaby’s roosting sites that remained in WA. This has displaced huge numbers of Carnaby’s on the Swan Coastal Plain and also destroyed their major food source.

The dramatic increase of emaciated starving cockatoos presenting at Perth Zoo currently can no longer find alternative food sources. This has been exacerbated by the dwindling natural food resources along with the failure of WA’s banksias to set seed this season due to extreme weather conditions.

Climate change on top of scarcity of food and decline in breeding will force these beautiful birds to reach critically low levels. The Environmental Protection Authority, State and Federal Governments have not been successful in protecting native bushland from demolition; it is individuals and community groups that constantly fight to protect what little is left.

Carnaby’s are the most affected of the three species because of their semi-migration patterns. While Forest Red-tailed black cockatoos and Baudin’s black cockatoos are essentially forest dwelling species, they largely exist in the remaining small but diverse forest habitats left to support them annually.

Carnaby’s populations north of Perth instinctively continue to return to increasingly barren landscapes that they have done for thousands of years. According to Dean Arthurell from Carnaby’s Crusaders, consequently this year has seen a 90 per cent drop in breeding activity from last year.

Tip

Grow local species such as banksia, hakea, marri and jarrah, and nut species such as macadamia, pecan and hard-shelled almonds, and lobby local councils to plant cockatoo corridors in parks.

Three jobs to do

1. Join community groups that help protect existing bushland and old growth trees, and lobby State and Federal Governments to save bushland from demolition.

2. Enquire if artificial cockatoo breeding boxes are suitable for your area or trees.

3. Learn more about the flight paths of our cockatoos and join others in planting out corridors of food trees.