hi all,
I have two questions about WA cockatoos (for an upcoming trip):
1) there are western corellas and introduced long-billed corellas in Perth. Are there also introduced little corellas there?
2) how the heck do you tell a long-billed black cockatoo from a short-billed? I know the bill is (of course) different but from pictures it doesn’t look like a really obvious length difference, so can you only tell them apart with really close views, or is there some basic difference in the way they act or look?
thanks 
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Hi Israel,
The answer to your first question is yes, there are plenty of introduced Little (and Long-billed) Corellas in Perth. Western Corellas are in fact by far the least common of the three species in the Perth area, although odd ones and twos do occur
Identification of the two black-cockatoos is challenging. If you get a good enough look, then the differences in bill length are usually reasonably easy to pick up and probably the best way to separate the two species, but this can be very difficult in more distant views, or flight views, or if the bill is partially hidden by feathering on the face. With practice, calls are the other ‘easy’ way to separate the two species – Carnaby’s flight calls are generally more drawn-out and more noticeably disyllabic than Baudin’s. There are also differences in distribution and behaviour, although obviously these should be used with caution because sometimes birds turn up where they shouldn’t or do things they shouldn’t!! Within the Perth area, Baudin’s is predominantly restricted to the forests of the Darling Scarp, rarely occurring on the coastal plain proper. Carnaby’s also occurs on the Darling Scarp, but is also commonly seen on the coastal plain, including the inner suburbs of Pert h, particularly in the non-breeding season (autumn-winter). Carnaby’s also has a wider diet than Baudin’s, and is particularly fond of feeding on introduced pines in the metro area, whereas Baudin’s rarely (if ever) feeds in pines. Overall however, the most reliabe features for ID are the bill and call. There is more information on separating the two species at http://wabirdingblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/id-feature-white-tailed-black-cockatoos.html, along with a YouTube clip and links to a couple of other useful pages to help with the identification by call.
Hope this helps, Cheers, John
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