Earworms from planet earth XI
Last year Ann Jones, host of ABC Radio National’s Off Track segment, sent me a recording of some Black-cockatoo calls, submitted by Sarah from Ireland who was holidaying in southwestern Western Australia. She asked me to have a listen and record a segment, identifying the calls if possible. I was happy to oblige!
Recorded in Warren River National Park, the recording contained calls from Forest Red-tailed Black-cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii naso) and White-tailed Black-cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus sp.).
The Red-tails were easy to identify, as they have a distinct harsh, creaky kaa-rak call, which is very different to the call of White-tailed Black-cockatoos. There were also juveniles begging incessantly, with a wheezy squeaking call.
The White-tails, not so much. There are two species known as “White-tailed Black-cockatoos” in Australia, Carnaby’s (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) and Baudin’s (Calyptorhynchus baudinii), and they are both found in the forests of southwestern Western Australia. Their calls are very similar and there are only a few people in the world who can confidently distinguish between a Carnaby’s and a Baudin’s on call alone. The main contact call of White-tails is a distinct wee-loo or wee-lah call, which can be heard in the recording. For those of you reading from over east* they sound similar to Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoos.
Just listening to this recording takes me back to the forest and I can almost see the cockatoos high in the trees, feeding on gumnuts, or maybe having a snooze.
You can listen to the episode here: Earworms from planet earth XI (I’m on at the 7:30 mark).
The episode also contains fun nature sounds submitted by the public, including whales, frogs, and bush birds, and is definitely worth a listen, as are the rest of the episodes! If you’re interested in more Black-cockatoo goodness, there’s a whole episode dedicated to the Endangered southeastern subspecies of the Red-tailed Black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne) and the research being done by my friend and colleague, Daniella Teixeira: Cockatoo wail, fledge of fail.
* “over east” is such a WA thing to say! I grew up near Canberra, but still find myself referring to anywhere not WA as “over east”. Ha!