Carnaby’s return to the coast to breed

An approximately 7 week old chick in an artificial nesting tube “Cockatube” in Mandurah. This chick will fledge the nest at 10 weeks of age.

Nest checks in November revealed that 5 pairs of Carnaby’s have returned to breed in known nest hollows in Parklands, and another 2 pairs in Lake Clifton.

Although known to breed inland in the Wheatbelt, several pairs of Carnaby’s black cockatoo return every year to nest in hollows near the coast in the City of Mandurah and Shire of Waroona.  The vegetation and food types are a little different from inland parts and the birds rely heavily on Banksia and tuart woodland species and some exotics such as pine for food to support their growing young.

Recent nest checks in Parklands and Lake Clifton found 7 healthy chicks in 7 artificial nesting tubes on private and public landholdings. It is great to see the same pairs of birds (presumably) returning each year to breed. 

We are aware of some natural breeding hollows in the area, which are preferred over artificial tubes, but do rely on the public to notify us if they ever see black cockatoos using a hollow in a tree, so we can check for breeding. Capturing this data is important to protect those trees and surrounding vegetation from clearing and development.  Black cockatoos return to the same nest tree year after year to breed if they successfully raise a chick from it.

If you have seen any hollows used by black cockatoos please notify us at admin@peel-harvey.org.au or 6369 8800.