#zanda

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Zanda funerea), family Cacatuidae, order Psittaciformes, Australia

A yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Zanda funerea) in Bridport, Tasmania, Australia

Carnaby's Black Cockatoo Zanda latirostris

A large black cockatoo endemic to southwest Australia. This cockatoo usually lays a clutch of one to two eggs. The young will stay with the family until the next breeding season, and sometimes even longer. Seeds of plants of the families Proteaceae and, to a lesser extent, Myrtaceae form a large part of its diet. Aboriginal Nyungar names recorded include ngolyenok, ngoolyoo, and G'noo-le-a.

AKA Calyptorhynchus funereus latirostris, Calyptorhynchus baudinii latirostris, and Calyptorhynchus latirostriis, ngolyenok, ngoolyoo, and G'noo-le-a. The first description was by farmer and ornithologist Ivan Carnaby in 1948, who suspected that Western Australia had more than one species, and was later proven right.

A large, endangered cockatoo from SW Australia, where it gathers in flocks to systematically wreck every Banksia growing in my home suburb. Banksia, other Proteaceae, Eucalypts with large hard gumnuts and other Myrtaceae form the bulk of the diet, but the large powerful beak is well adapt to destroy any hard fruit and open up wood in the pursuit of woodboring larvae.

Known to live for at least 35 years, but seriously endangered by habitat loss, loss of nesting sites, and extreme weather such as heatwaves.

From X-Force Vol. 7 #010, “The X-Equation”

Art by Marcus To and Erick Arciniega