From Tropical Topics newsletter, No. 73 May 2002,
produced by Stella Martin from Queensland's Environmental
Protection Agency. Click on the PDF to read the whole issue.
Apostlebirds | Red-tailed black
cockatoos | Kookaburras |
Apostlebirds get their name because they give
the impression of appearing in groups of 12
|
Apostlebirds, so-called because they give the impression of
appearing in groups of 12 (though there may be anywhere between
eight and16 in the mob) are a noisy feature of inland Queensland
and the Northern Territory. They have several other names, notably
CWA (Country Women's Association) birds because of the noise they
make and also 'lousy jack', for their tendency to alert animals to
the stealthy approach of traditional hunters. The groups are family
clans that work together to build the mud nest and care for the
young. The close-knit family feeds, drinks, roosts, preens and
plays together. The birds spend a lot of time on the ground and fly
weakly. In trees they prefer to hop from branch to branch on their
strong legs rather than use their wings. To see a list of recent
research on Apostlebirds
click here .
Red-tailed black cockatoo Photo: Kate
O'Donnell
|
Red-tailed black cockatoos gather in massive flocks sometimes
several thousand strong - a spectacular sight when these large
parrots take to the air. The black males have startling bright red
bands in the tail which splays out in flight. The females, and the
young for the first four years, have yellow speckles and bars on
their dark plumage and orange in the tail. There are several
sub-species in Australia, with different feeding habits. Those in
south-western Victoria are considered threatened but those across
northern Australia are plentiful.
Like many savanna birds, the cockatoos migrate according to food
supplies. They are more commonly seen in the dry season,
disappearing from many areas during the Wet. They eat a variety of
things including eucalypt, acacia and banksia seeds, nuts, fruits
and insects as well as flowers and nectar. They also feed in
recently burnt areas during the dry season.
Unfortunately the large flocks of cockatoos are not such a
welcome sight for farmers when they descend on peanut crops. The
birds have learned to pull the plants from the ground to get to the
nuts underneath. Permits are issued to shoot `scout´ birds, in
order to deter the entire flock and elaborate scaring methods have
been used, but the birds simply move on to another field. As an
experiment, a 'sacrificial crop' of 40 acres of peanuts was planted
at Lakeland Downs on Cape York Peninsula in 1999. The birds were
allowed to eat these but chased from other fields. To see a list of
research findings on cockatoos click
here .
Laughing Kookaburra
|
Kookaburras of two species have overlapping territories in the
savannas of north Queensland: the laughing kookaburra and the
blue-winged kookaburra. The latter is a tropical species with more
blue on the wings and tail (male) and a raucous, screaming call in
place of the cackling laughter. It is found across the northern
savanna. Where the two species coincide, they exclude each other
from their family territories, just as members of the same species
would. (Different species of birds often disregard each other). It
is thought that the two kookaburras were separated for long enough
in the past to evolve different forms, but that their nesting and
feeding habits remained the same; thus making them competitors in
the same environment. To see a list of research findings on
kookaburras
click here.
