Landcare Serpentine Jarrahdale was offered the opportunity to construct 10 Cockatubes for a RioTinto offset in Weipa, far north QLD. Weipa is as far away from Mundijong as you can get without leaving Australia, but that’s just where these Cockatubes are heading.
Cockatubes are an artificial nesting hollow for Black Cockatoos, however, these Cockatubes aren’t for the Glossy Black-Cockatoo, (Calyptorhynchus lathami) or even the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus). This shipment is for the largest cockatoo species in Australia, the Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus). Palm Cockatoos aren’t quite like other species of black cockatoos, they can reach up to 60cm in length, they construct a 450mm nest stack made out of sticks, they also possess a peculiar talent that involves male palm cockatoos using branches and seed pods as drumsticks to beat out a steady rhythm on the edge of their nesting hollow to attract a mate.
With these specifications in mind, we adapted our original design to better to suit the needs of this species. We installed a new rim around the top of the Cockatubes made from Eucalyptus camaldulensis. We also diversified the sizes of our Cockatubes so that we can determine what size of hollow they prefer. As well as ensuring that we met the specifications of the birds themselves we also needed to make the sure the hollows could handle the extremes of northern QLD weather such as up to one meter of rain in one day and cyclonic wind conditions. Cockatubes can be adapted and changed to meet any of the requirements of Australia’s many different cockatoo species.
See Rare ‘Ringo Starr’ cockatoo faces extinction due to habitat loss in Far North Queensland
Images from https://www.difficultbirds.com/palm-cockatoo