Adults: Overall dark-grey or black. Forehead, jet-black. Lores, jet-black. Crimson or orange naked cheek patches. Eye, dark-brown. Eye-ring, grey. Bill, grey-black. Tongue, red with black tip. Feet and toes, grey.
Immatures: As adults, but feathers of under wing-coverts and underparts flecked with pale-yellow. Cumen and tips of both mandibles white. Eye-ring, white.
Other Names (World)
Palm Cockatoo, Great Palm Cockatoo, Great Black Cockatoo, Goliath Cockatoo, Cape York Cockatoo, Goliath Aratoo, Black Macaw
Food
Seeds, nuts, leaf buds and fruit, including berries. Food taken in the crowns of trees and rarely taken from the ground.
Voice
A two-syllable whistle on contact, first syllable mellow and deep, second shrill and high-pitched, prolonged and ending with an abrupt upward inflection. When alarmed, a sharp, guttural screech. Other calls include a deep monosyllabic whistle, repeated three or four times, and a mournful, drawn-out wailing cry.
Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) [XC267875]
by Frank Lambert from near Malagufuk, Klasow Valley, Sorong, Papua Barat, Papua New Guinea (call)
Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus) [XC267876]
by Marc Anderson from near Malagufuk, Klasow Valley, Sorong, Papua Barat, Papua New Guinea (flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Usually October - November.
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Nest
Hollow in a tree, generally in the trunk, lined with a layer of splintered twigs.
Eggs (Guide)
1; dull-white; ellipsoidal; 45 - 5 x 35 - 40 mm. Incubation: 31 - 35 days, by female.
Young
Fledge in 14 - 16 weeks.
Subspecies
Proposed subspecies alecto of west Papuan islands and intermedius of Aru Islands not considered valid.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
stenolophus (van Oort, 1911) - Northern and eastern New Guinea and Yapen I.
goliath (Kuhl, 1820) - Western Papuan Is and west, central and possibly south-eastern New Guinea.
aterrimus (Gmelin, 1788) - Misool and Aru Is, and southern Trans-Fly (southern New Guinea). Also Cape York, Australia.
macgillivrayi (Mathews, 1912) - Southern New Guinea, Cape York Pen. (north-eastern Australia).
Similar Species
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii), which has red or orange panels in tail. The female has yellow-orange spots and bars.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet