Who is Karak?

Karak is the name given to the mascot for the 2006 Commonwealth Games being held in Melbourne Australia. Karak represents the south-eastern sub-species of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. There are five sub-species of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo found in Australia. The south-eastern subspecies is the only one listed as endangered. Its special scientific name is Calyptorhyncus banksii graptogyne. The name Karak sounds like the call the birds make, described in one field guide as being like a “rusty windmill”.

What does Karak look like?

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos are mostly black. The female has yellow spots on her head and shoulders, and her chest and belly feathers are trimmed with yellow.

The tail feathers of the male have distinctive bright red patches while the female’s tail is orange and yellow with black stripes.

Fully grown birds weigh 570-800g and are about 550mm long. Between October and May the female lays a single egg, which she incubates for about 30 days.

The male collects seeds to feed mother and baby.

Karak is a fussy eater and needs large hollows for nesting

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos feed mostly on the seeds from the Brown Stringybark (Eucalyptus baxteri), the Desert Stringybark (Eucalyptus arenacea) and Buloke (Allocasuarina luehmannii).

Fire has had a big impact on the number of stringybark woodlands available. Both wildfire and controlled burns can damage the canopy and so reduce the seed producing capacity of trees. Land clearing for agriculture is another factor. Most of the original woodland habitats of the

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo have been cleared. It would be unusual for woodlands to be cleared today but individual paddock trees are sometimes removed, mostly so farmers can use large centre-pivot irrigation systems.

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos nest in hollows that are about 25-30cm wide at the opening and nearly 2m deep. They mostly nest in big old River Red Gums, some dead as a result of ring-barking in the early 1900s. Nesting trees are mostly found not more that 5km from feeding trees.

How to help Karak and other Red-tailed Black-cockatoos

An action plan has been developed for the conservation of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. The important things the plan hopes to achieve are to:

• preserve existing habitat including nest trees
• establish new habitat
• monitor where and when RtBC are seen
• minimize the impact of nest predators
• educate people about RtBC and help them to preserve habitat, including that found on private land

For further information:

www.dse.vic.gov.au (link to Karak on home page)

www.birdsaustralia.com.au/rtbced/ (an online education kit aimed at upper secondary but includes colouring pages of male and female birds)

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