Noosa Council, Queensland, put out an all points bulletin in October, calling for eagle-eyed residents to join Glossy Black-Cockatoo Birding Day.
The Glossy Black-Cockatoo Conservancy started the initiative to enlist local residents’ help to gather information about the vulnerable birds, such as where they feed and their numbers.
One of Noosa’s volunteers is Bob Carey or ‘Glossy Bob’, who has been studying the cockatoos for many years.
In 2015 he won the coveted ‘Golden Ort’ award for recording the greatest number of Glossy Black-Cockatoo feed trees. Orts are chewings, or the remains of the seeds left by the birds.
“We provide the Glossy Black-Cockatoo Conservancy with the information we gather to support its conservation work.
“Accurate records of these birds also helps our understanding, at a local level, about how they live and move around the shire,” Bob said.
The Glossy Black-Cockatoos are magnificent birds with large beaks and red tail feathers. They have a distinctive call and feed on Allocasuarina trees.
Council’s Principal Environment Officer, Peter Milne, said Council was pleased to support Glossy Black-Cockatoo Birding Day.
“Glossy Black-Cockatoo Birding Day is a great social day and there are prizes up for grabs.
“It’s an opportunity for people to learn how to perform the survey, and volunteer for the areas in the shire that they would like to survey.”
