McComus Taylor asked whether there was any data on Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos in Collingwood.
I’m not sure what sort of data you had in mind McComus, but this species has been steadily increasing its winter usage of urban parks along the Yarra Valley and elsewhere in Melbourne, and even in the CBD, over the last decade or more. It is being recorded with increasing regularity and in increasing numbers visiting pinus trees and other conifers across Melbourne. I’ve seen them in the Fitzroy gardens on the edge of the CBD. Some people have suggested that this is a response to the large areas of forest burnt over recent years, but its occurrence in Melb predates the fires. I suggest it is another example of an adaptable species occupying a vacant niche and increasing its population as a consequence, just like the Galah, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Long-billed Corella and Little Corella the before it. I can now routinely see 6 species of cockatoo in my local area (Heidelberg-Templestowe) in winter (Gang Gang is the other).
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That’s interesting, Peter. My office window overlooks part of Albert Park, just off St Kilda Road in Melbourne. I hadn’t noticed YTBCs until immediately after the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. In the weeks after that event, I started noticing flocks of YTBCs in the afternoon, flying in a northerly direction from Albert Park towards, presumably, Fawkner Park, and possibly then towards the Royal Botanical Gardens. Flocks were initially a few birds, then tens, then ultimately more than 200 birds. I started noticing them flying in the opposite direction early in the mornings. The birds continued to be present in large numbers throughout 2009 and into 2010. Sometime in 2010 the numbers decreased, and ultimately the birds disappeared by about April of that year. Over recent weeks, I have noticed the birds again – in small flocks only (no more than ten birds).
I must admit that I assumed that the sudden appearance of these birds was to do with the bushfires. I hadn’t realised that the number of sightings, and the quantity of birds was on the increase in Melbourne prior to that time.
Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria