Count your cockies
Monday, April 16, 2012 at 22:47 
South-eastern Red-tailed Black-CockatooThe South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo count is on again Saturday May 5th.
Project coordinator Tim Burnard says there are less than 1500 of our local subspecies and the count is an important way to keep track of the population.
Tim says May is the right time to spot the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo because they've finished feeding on Buloke and have moved into the Stringybark areas - which means a smaller area to concentrate on finding the birds.
It's still not a simple task... the area is around 18,000 square kilometres.
Last year only 800 birds were counted, but Tim doesn't think that's an indication of a population decline, just that the birds just weren't found.
So this year, Tim would love to have a few more volunteers on board to spot them!
He says you don't need to have bird watching experience, and there are training sessions available on the morning of the count to show you what to look for.
Information from private landholders is important too, you can register to spot birds on your own property.
The best way to detect the birds it to listen for their call.