ONE of the more distinctive members of Australia’s birdlife is the gang-gang cockatoo.
A short, small and stocky slate-grey bird, the males have the scarlet head and wispy crest. Females have a grey head and crest with feathers edged with salmon pink. A social but relatively quiet cockatoo, they can be located in food trees by the soft growling sounds they make while feeding. Their call is similar to the sound of a creaking gate.
The gang-gang cockatoo can be seen throughout many parts of south-eastern Australia. During summer, they can be found in tall mountain forests. In winter they move to lower altitudes into more open woodlands. At this time, they may be seen by roadsides and in parks and gardens of urban areas.
They feed mainly on seeds of native and introduced trees and shrubs, with a preference for eucalypts, wattles and introduced hawthorns. They will also eat berries, fruits, nuts and insects and their larvae. They spend most of their time foraging in tree canopies, coming to the ground only to drink and to search among fallen fruits or pinecones.
Gang-gang cockatoos are monogamous and form strong pair-bonds. They nest in hollows of trunks or limbs of large, tall eucalypt trees, usually near water. Both sexes prepare the nest by chewing on the sides of the hollow and use the wood chips and fragments to line the nest. Both sexes share incubation duties and care for the young.
Gang-gang cockatoos are adversely affected by land clearing and the removal of mature trees (potential breeding hollow sites).
Numbers were impacted by the 2019/20 bushfires and the species has been declared endangered.
A Bushfire Recovery Project saw communities put a great effort into planting 7500 trees. With publicity and increased survey effort, good numbers have been found since the bushfires. Bird Life East Gippsland meet weekly for Monday morning outings.
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