Get Involved
Actions for Biodiversity & Threatened Species

Saving Australia’s Birds: Glossy Black-Cockatoos

The Glossy Black-Cockatoo is a species of bird in Australia that’s vulnerable to extinction, and ​​faces a multitude of threats to its existence. These threats include climate change, bushfires, droughts, and habitat loss.

That’s why Conservation Volunteers Australia is taking action and working with dedicated partners and volunteers to help save the Glossy Black-Cockatoo.

To date, we’ve already planted over 3,000 trees across six locations in the Tweed, Byron, and Ballina shires, thanks to generous support from local landholder Mark Tidswell. These trees help to provide these birds with the particular food they eat, shelter, and breeding grounds to support population numbers to increase over time.

Do you want to help save the Glossy Black-Cockatoo? Find out more below about how you can make a difference.

Where do Glossies live?

The Glossy Black-Cockatoo, or “glossies” as they’re colloquially known, are found in eastern Australia (Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria) and on Kangaroo Island (South Australia).

Among their favourite foods are the seeds of she-oak trees, which are why they’re usually found in woodland and forest areas that are home to these trees.

How to identify a Glossy Black-Cockatoo

Firstly, Glossies should be distinguished from other cockatoo species, which include Forest red-tailed black-cockatoo, Carnaby’s black-cockatoo, Baudin’s cockatoo, and the Yellow-tailed black cockatoo.

You may be interested to know that male and female Glossies look quite different from one another, which is important to know for bird identification. While the Glossy Black-Cockatoo is the smallest of Australia’s black cockatoo species (measuring approximately just under 50 centimetres), adult males and females have different colour feathers on their faces, heads, and tails.

Adult male glossies have a black body with a brownish-back head, and mostly solid red (sometimes also with orange and yellow) tail panels, without any barring. Adult males don’t have any yellow feathers on their faces, but juveniles may.

By contrast adult female glossies have distinct yellow facial markings with randomly placed patches on their heads. These patches are so distinctive on each bird, that they can be used like fingerprints to identify individual female birds. Adult female adult birds have red tail panels with distinctive horizontal black markings (barring).

Another way to identify Glossies is listening to their calls, which differ from other species of cockatoo. You can use a birding app to listen to bird call sounds to help with identification.

Threats facing Glossy Black-Cockatoos

Glossy Black-Cockatoos face many threats and need our help. Loss of habitat is one of the major threats that affects their survival. This may be as a result of bushfires, or clearing of land for development. When habitat gets fragmented, it also makes it challenging for Glossies to find a mate, breed, and travel to find food and shelter.

In addition to habitat loss, bushfires affects Glossies, contributing to loss of habitat and loss of the trees that they depend on for food and shelter.

There are also several animals that pose a threat to Glossies, such as feral cats and possums. These animals often raid Glossies’ nests and introduced bees species can also take over Glossies nests in trees.

And, like many species, climate change impacts Glossies by contributing to bushfires, extreme weather events and drought.

There are also various other threats to Glossies that include illegal bird and egg smuggling in the illegal wildlife trade, the spread of invasive plants and weeds that affect the Glossies’ food sources, and the degradation of their foraging habitat and favourite food sources through overgrazing by domestic cattle.

Help us save the Glossy Black-Cockatoo

Glossies are vulnerable to extinction and without our help they could be classified as an endangered species.

Watch this video where Aunty Kay explains why these cockatoos need your help:

Here are ways that you can be part of this important conservation effort:

Together, we can ensure these remarkable birds continue to grace our skies for generations to come. 🦅