Rare birds breed in mock nests

“We’ve designed those hollows on measurements we’ve taken of actual nests and then we did quite a bit of experimentation trying to find ways to keep bees out of wooden nests using different insecticides and all sorts of designs."—Professor Johnstone. Image by davidfntau.

A group from Murdoch University and the WA Museum have successfully encouraged a threatened cockatoo to breed for the first time in the metro area.

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Carnaby's black cockatoo in trouble

The rare Carnaby's black cockatoo is sufferering a hit in numbers from multiple onslaughts.

A Carnaby's black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris). (Credit: Wikimedia)

Pestilence, heat, and storms of almost biblical proportions have plagued Western Australia's most vulnerable parrots in recent years.

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Rare bird hatches in suburban Perth

Tucked away high in the branches of a white gum tree at Murdoch University, in a painstakingly designed nesting box, is the bundle of feathers that set Ron Johnstone’s heart racing.

The endangered forest red-tailed black cockatoo chick was the first hatching in suburban Perth in his 15 years of research, as well as the first time the birds had bred in an artificial nest.

“It was quite staggering to us,” Adjunct Professor Johnstone, curator of ornithology at the WA Museum, said.

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Are Black Cockatoos really protected?

“The current controls aren’t working and are pushing native wildlife closer to the brink – we need a more comprehensive approach.” Image by David Wake.ENVIRONMENTAL experts say a population shift of WA’s iconic Carnaby's Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) will put more pressure on habitats that are rapidly being lost to development without effective laws to protect them.

Murdoch University Dean of Environmental Science and former WA Conservation Commission chairman John Bailey says the state’s Wildlife Protection Act, which has not been updated in more than 60 years, is “woefully inadequate” for dealing with current threats to endangered species.

He says the lack of comprehensive statewide biodiversity legislation means conservation and planning laws are not well integrated and look at each case individually instead of a wider scale.

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Green group urges more effort to save black cockatoos

Ralph Green - Carnaby's black cockatoo

Animal conservation groups say the State Government is not doing enough to protect Western Australia's endangered black cockatoo.

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