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Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo |
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The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo tail feather is the most popular of all the black cockatoo feathers, due to it's striking contrasting colours. Female tails are like a work of art, the 'Opal' gem of the feather world. These cockatoos are owned by a number of experienced bird keepers in Australia, but like the other Australian black cockatoos, the Red-tailed species doesn't exist or is very rare in other countries. There are five subspecies of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo, from different parts of Australia. The differences between them is body, beak and crest size. Feather marking differences is also present, but only in adult females. E.G. The tail feathers from the C.b. samueli subspecies have noticeably more red in them than the tail feathers from the larger sized Northern Territory subspecies (C.b macrorhynchus.) The male tails don't vary much (or any) in colour between the different subspecies, but will only vary in size.
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Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo-The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo tail feather is the largest and longest cockatoo tail feather. This feather can vary in shade from a bright yellow to a mid brown and the ones shed from females and juvenile males usually have dark spots. The Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo is endemic to Australia and there are two subspecies from different parts of Australia, with the main difference between them being body and beak size. The large race of this species is one of the largest cockatoos by body size, but the longest of all the cockatoos (in the world) when including it's tail.
A large tail feather from this species can be three quarters the length of a Blue-and-gold Macaw centre tail feather and that's very long for a cockatoo tail feather. |
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Male Red Tails
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Female Red Tails
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Yellow Tails
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White Tails
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White-tailed Black-CockatooThe White-tailed Black-Cockatoo tail feather is similar in size to the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo tail feather. It's well proportioned shape and size makes it ideal for pow wow and hat decorating. This cockatoo is endemic to Western Australia. Like the yellow tailed species, there are two subspecies of the White-tailed Black-Cockatoo. The Carnaby's subspecies is a bit smaller, has a shorter beak and is rarer. The Baudin's subspecies is still endangered (like the Carnaby's) in its natural habitat, mainly due to de-forestation in Western Australia.
Glossy Black-Cockatoo |
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The Glossy Black-Cockatoo is a very rare species and is closest related to the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. There are three subspecies of the Glossy Black-Cockatoo and they are all rare, but the rarest is the Kangaroo Island (SA) subspecies.
The Glossy Black-Cockatoo only breeds once every two years (in the wild) and the female only lays one egg. The incubation period is longer than that of any other cockatoo. These cockatoos have very specific dietary needs in captivity - and as such only a handful of experienced bird breeders in Australia keep them. We have limited stock of these feathers, due to the rarity of these birds in captivity. Tail feathers from this Black-Cockatoo species look similar to the tail feathers of the larger Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. |
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