Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo is one of Australia's largest cockatoos, found in forest and woodland across the southeast, often seen and heard flying in small groups overhead. Its dark plumage is set off by bold yellow panels in the tail and a yellow cheek patch, features that are especially conspicuous in flight.

Body feathers are sooty black to dark brown, each with a fine, subtle scalloped edge visible at close range, giving a slightly scaly texture rather than a flat, uniform black. The tail feathers are dark with broad, bright yellow panels on the outer webs, forming conspicuous yellow patches visible when the tail is spread in flight. A yellow patch of feathers on the cheek contrasts with the otherwise dark head, more extensive in females than males. Flight feathers are dark and broad, built for slow, deep wingbeats. The combination of yellow tail panels and cheek patch against sooty black-brown body plumage separates this species from the similarly large but glossier and less contrastingly marked Red-tailed Black Cockatoo.

Females typically show a larger, brighter yellow cheek patch and more spotting on the body and wing feathers compared to males, along with a paler bill. Males have a more uniformly dark head with a smaller cheek patch and a darker bill. Juveniles resemble females initially, with young males gradually developing the darker, less spotted adult plumage. Molt is gradual through the year.

This species occupies forest, woodland, and pine plantations across southeastern Australia and Tasmania, favoring areas with mature seed-bearing trees. It is generally sedentary to locally nomadic, with some seasonal movement tied to food availability such as pine cone crops.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos feed on seeds from native trees and introduced pines, as well as wood-boring grubs extracted by tearing into bark and dead wood with their strong bills. They nest in large tree hollows. Their call is a distinctive, far-carrying wailing or creaking note, often given in flight, making flying flocks audible well before they are seen. They are usually encountered in small family groups or larger flocks outside the breeding season.