The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has announced that one of Australia’s rarest cockatoos has been spotted in Deep Creek National Park on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
According to the Service it’s the first time a South Australian glossy black-cockatoo has been seen in the Peninsula for 50 years since the 1970s.
The NPWS said the endangered glossy black-cockatoo had only been found since then on Kangaroo Island when a single male was spotted in late July with another seen in the same location more recently.
NPWS Conservation Ecologist, Anthony Abley said he was excited by the sighting.
“While we’ve had a number of reports of glossy black cockatoos being spotted in the Fleurieu region over the years, none of these have been able to be confirmed,” Mr Abley said.
“Both of these sightings demonstrate the importance of having an interested and engaged community whose eyes and ears on the ground can contribute so much to our understanding of the distributions of our plant and animal species,” he said.
“Glossy black cockatoos feed almost exclusively on the seeds of drooping she-oak trees, and these can be found in pockets in Deep Creek National Park and throughout the Fleurieu region.”
Prior to the 1970s, the glossy black cockatoo could be found on mainland Fleurieu Peninsula but due to the widespread loss of drooping she-oak trees, the only population was on Kangaroo Island where just 160 birds could be found until the early 1990s.
Since then, a recovery program managed by the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board resulted in an increase of about 400 of the birds at present.
For more information about the glossy black-cockatoos can be found at the KI Landscape Board at this PS News link and to report a sighting, Mr Abley can be contacted at [email protected].
