Black Cockatoo Collaborative Project
Nature Conservation is also working in partnership with BirdLife WA and Cape Birds to coordinate the annual Great Cocky Count and ongoing CockyWatch. With the assistance and participation of members of the public (as volunteers) these two activities aim to learn more about the abundance and distribution of the Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo, Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo and Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo in the Margaret River region (Busselton – Augusta). All three species have declined over the last 50 years or more. The Baudin’s and Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos are listed as Endangered and the Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo as Vulnerable.
The Great Cocky Count (GCC) takes place on a Sunday evening in early April each year. Volunteers can register with BirdLife WA as a GCC counter during February and March prior to the count. GCC counters are allocated a night-roost site (as close as possible to where they live) to count at and given guidelines for how to conduct the count. People are also able to nominate their own night-roost site if they have a preference. Local coordinator(s) are also available during the summer and early autumn to help coordinate the count locally and to help locate new night-roost sites.
CockyWatch involves more frequent monitoring with the use of ‘transects’ – routes which people travel on (by foot, bicycle or car), surveyed whenever possible throughout the year. Survey forms can be downloaded from the Cockywatch page.
http://www.birdlife.org.au/projects/southwest-black-cockatoo-recovery/cockywatch
The South West Catchments Council (SWCC) is working with BirdLife WA and community landcare groups across the SWCC region to improve breeding success for Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos.
To do this we need to find out where the birds are breeding. If you know of areas that cockatoos use, either for nesting, roosting or feeding, SWCC would love to hear from you. More information can be found in the recent presentation: Counting black cockatoos