Male: General plumage dusky black. Feathers narrowly edged with off-white, with those on the underparts having wider off-white edges. Small dull white cheek patch. Wings, dusky. Broad band near end of tail, white. Central tail feathers all black. Eye, dark brown with pink surround. Bill, grey-black, shortly rounded. Feet and toes, dark grey-brown.
Female: As male but cheek patch larger and purer white. Bare skin surrounding eye is dark grey. Bill, bone, with grey tip to upper mandible. Feet and toes, flesh-buff.
Immatures: Similar to adult female, but young males may have small, dull white cheek patch like adult male.
Food
Feeds mainly on the kernels of proteaceous plants such as Hakea, Grevillea, Dryandra and Banksia. Also on fallen marri nuts or pine cones.
Voice
Contact call in flight a high-pitched drawn-out whistle 'whee-laa' lasting about three-quarters of a second, the last syllable rather prolonged. A single-syllabled harsh call in alarm. Fledged young wheeze harshly and continuously.
Nest
In a hollow of a tree from about 2 - 20 meters above the ground. The entrance is at least 180 mm in diameter, widening to at least 350 mm at the floor, with a depth of at least 150 mm. The female selects and prepares the hollow, lining the floor with wood chips cut from the sides.
Eggs (Guide)
2; white; oval; about 48 x 35 mm. Incubation: four weeks; by female.
Young
Fledge in 10 - 11 weeks.
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo (Zanda funerea) and Baudin's Black-Cockatoo (Zanda baudinii). Long considered conspecific with Baudin's Black-Cockatoo (Zanda baudinii), but currently treated as separate species because ecology also quite different, and bill significantly shorter than that of Baudin's Black-Cockatoo (Zanda baudinii). Difficulty in field identification, compounded by long history of conspecific treatment, have led to uncertainty regarding limits of range in area of overlap, and to publication of some inaccurate maps. Exhaustive analysis of all specimens available in superspecies suggested present species was so similar to South Australian Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo (Zanda funerea) that it might perhaps be treated as subspecies of latter.
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