Conservationists say black cockatoo's behaviour is changing
Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 22:49 
Carnabys cockatoos (Olivia Garnett) An apple grower from Manjimup believes the constant battle to protect fruit from black cockatoos is starting to have a psychological affect on farmers.
Vic Grozotis has lost between $5000 - $6000 worth of fruit and he says he has tried everything in his power to keep the birds away, which is an around the clock battle.
"These birds can be there at 5.30 in the morning and will still be there at 7.30 at night so many farmers can't get away socially on weekends or even during the week unless someone is there constantly monitoring the orchard," he said.
"That's the severity of the attacks we're seeing."
Mr Grozotis would like to see research and funding into finding alternative food sources for the birds.
"At least then we have these birds not coming into our orchards or at a significantly reduced frequency."
Conservationists say populations of the Baudin's and Carnaby's cockatoos are in fact declining and their behaviour is changing because their food sources are depleting.
Chris Philip, general manager of the black cockatoo rescue and rehabilitation centre in Perth says orchardists and conservationists need to work together to tackle the issue.
"The indications that we have is that there are less Baudin's than there are Carnaby's and their estimation populations are somewhere between 10, 000 and 20, 000," he said.
Rick Dawson from the Department of Environment and Conservation encourages farmers to use other ways to scare away the birds, such as using remote miniature aircraft planes to mimic predators.
"I've seen it first hand, they see that wing span up in the sky and they think it's a wedge-tailed eagle," he said.