The black cockatoo has white or red tail panels, white cheek patches and a short bill. It is endemic to southwest Western Australia, extending from the Murchison River to Esperance, and inland to Coroow, Kellerberrin and Lake Cronion.
Most breeding occurs in areas with an average annual rainfall of 300-750 mm, typically in the Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions. These areas of habitat have rapidly declined over the past 30 years as more and more land has been cleared for agricultural and other uses.
Black cockatoos are particularly vulnerable because they require a close association between breeding and feeding sites during the breeding season. If these two very different habitats are not within a reasonable distance of each other, breeding attempts fail. After breeding, the cockatoos move to higher rainfall areas along the coast in search of food sources such as Banksia and Hakea heathlands.
A small group of volunteers dedicate a large amount of their personal time to rescuing injured Black Cockatoos by driving long distances to pick up the injured birds and bring them back to a recovery ‘hospital’ and recuperation site. They have recently moved in to the old Cohuna Wildlife Park in martin, Western Australia and are refurbishing an old shed to use as a ‘clinic’ and are building large aviaries on this 60 hectare site for which they need materials and tools.
Once the birds have recovered to full health the volunteers return them to the area they were rescued from. The Perth Zoo has been their previous ‘sanctuary’ and members of the Perth Zoo staff continue to advise the volunteers on all aspects of the treatment and care of the rescued birds.
Exetel is donating $2,500 a month to assist buy the required building materials and tools and to pay the travel costs of collecting the wounded Black Cockatoos. Exetel is also providing time and expertise to re-vamp their current web site and provide the required hosting facilities. More money than Exetel is providing is needed to accelerate the implementation of other parts of this program and if you can assist, as little as $0.50 per month will be welcome, then you can make your personal donation here:
https://www.exetel.com.au/members/customer_donation_choice.php
Project Updates
Progress reports by the Project manager for this and other Exetel sponsored projects can be found on the Exetel Forum here:
http://forum.exetel.com.au/viewforum.php?f=323&sid=7921f33759cf99130d18660f0b5ebc49