Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo
Hi V ... Went for a walk along the Yarra yesterday. To our surprise we came across a flock of yellow tailed black cockatoos munching on the trees between the banks of the river and Federation Square. For those of you who don't know Melbourne this is just on the southern edge of the CBD. I've never seen them in the city before. They were ripping at the trees with bits of branches falling to the ground beneath them. Wikipedia tells me that they are particularly fond of the larvae of tree-boring moths. The moth larvae are the largest in June and July. When the cockatoo finds them they strip off bark to make a perch for themselves before continuing to gouge and excavate the larvae. This flock was certainly behaving true to form. Cheers J.
That is a very good shot, Joe. It is so hard to shoot the sky with so much backlighting. You did well!
ReplyDeleteI love it when the name of a bird makes such obvious sense! More and more species seem to be adapting to our urbanised environment. Nice shot.
ReplyDeleteImpressive getting a motion shot like that.
ReplyDeleteFantastic capture Joe! This shot shows off your quick camera skills. When we were in Austin, Texas this past summer, we saw Monk Parakeets in the wild, which I have never seen before. It was thrilling :^)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. The birds seemed to be flying from one tree to the next so we tried to anticipate the best position to stand to get pan the camera so we could get a shot of the flying.
ReplyDeleteGreat shot Joe! Wonderful info as well. I have always liked these guys!
ReplyDeleteI've seen them in the last week too - once in trees near the boatsheds opposite fed Square and then in trees near Morell Bridge. One also flew past my kitchen window. I was really surprised to see them too.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I was too far away for a photo. You did well to capture them.
Estupenda la foto que nos has dejado, como siempre un placer pasar por tu casa.
ReplyDeleteSaludos y un abrazo.
Great shot Joe. When the cockatoos fly around in huge 'gangs' they can cause havoc. I remember looking out at my bottlebrush tree on the front lawn and it was literally covered in them, so much mess when they flew off but it was amazing to watch.
ReplyDeleteAlways wondered... is there such a thing as a cockaTHREE?
ReplyDeleteMost unusual to see them So close to the CBD Joe
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