Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo  |  

The Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is 55-60 cm in length and 570-870 g in weight (Higgins 1999). Males and females are mostly glossy black with a pair of black central tail feathers, a crest, robust bill and bright red, orange or yellow barring in the tail. Males are distinguished by broad red tail panels that are only visible when taking off or alighting. They have a dark brown iris, dark grey eye-ring and blackish legs. Females are distinguished by yellow or whitish spots on the feathers of the head and upper wing coverts. Their tail feathers are bright red and orange, grading to yellow on the inner margins, and have variable black horizontal barring. Females have yellow or orange barring on the tips of the feathers of the throat, breast, belly and under-tail coverts and a light grey bill with a dark grey tip. The juvenile is similar to the adult female but has a white eye-ring. The subspecies voice is a loud cry of ‘karee’ or ‘krar-raak’.