Baudin's black cockatoo

(Redirected from Zanda baudinii)

Baudin's black cockatoo (Zanda baudinii), also known as Baudin's cockatoo or the long-billed black cockatoo, is a species of genus Zanda found in southwest Australia. The epithet commemorates the French explorer Nicolas Baudin. It has a short crest on the top of its head, and the plumage is mostly greyish black. It has prominent white cheek patches and a white tail band. The body feathers are edged with white giving a scalloped appearance. Adult males have a dark grey beak and pink eye-rings. Adult females have a bone coloured beak, grey eye-rings and ear patches that are paler than those of the males.

Baudin's black cockatoo
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Cacatuidae
Genus: Zanda
Species:
Z. baudinii
Binomial name
Zanda baudinii
(Lear, 1832)
Range in red, within Australia
Synonyms
  • Calyptorhynchus baudinii Lear, 1832
  • Calyptorhynchus baudinii baudinii Lear, 1832
  • Calyptorhynchus funereus baudinii Lear, 1832

Taxonomy and naming

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Baudin's black cockatoo was depicted in 1832 by the English artist Edward Lear in his Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots from a specimen owned by the naturalist Benjamin Leadbeater. Lear used the common name "Baudin's cockatoo" and coined the binomial name Calyptorhynchus baudinii.[2] The common name and specific epithet commemorate the French explorer Nicolas Baudin, who led an expedition to Australia in 1801-1804.[3] The species is now placed in the genus Zanda that was introduced in 1913 by the Australian born ornithologist Gregory Mathews.[4][5]

Carnaby's black cockatoo (Zanda latirostris) and Baudin's black cockatoo were previously classified as the same species.[6] Common names include Baudin's black cockatoo or long-billed black cockatoo.[7]

The two Western Australian white-tailed black cockatoo species, the short-billed Carnaby's black cockatoo and this long-billed Baudin's black cockatoo, together with the yellow-tailed black cockatoo Zanda funerea of eastern Australia are allied in the genus Zanda. Previously this genus was considered a subgenus of Calyptorhynchus, with the red-tailed black cockatoo and glossy black cockatoos forming another subgenus, Calyptorhynchus, but due to a deep genetic divergence between the two groups they are now widely treated as separate genera.[8] The two genera differ in tail colour, head pattern, juvenile food begging calls and the degree of sexual dimorphism. Males and females of Calyptorhynchus sensu stricto have markedly different plumage, whereas those of Zanda have similar plumage.[9]

The three species of the genus Zanda have been variously considered as two, then as a single species for many years. In a 1979 paper, Australian ornithologist Denis Saunders highlighted the similarity between the short-billed and the southern race xanthanotus of the yellow-tailed and treated them as a single species with the long-billed as a distinct species. He proposed that Western Australia had been colonised on two separate occasions, once by a common ancestor of all three forms (which became the long-billed black cockatoo), and later by what has become the short-billed black cockatoo.[10] However, an analysis of protein allozymes published in 1984 revealed the two Western Australian forms to be more closely related to each other than to the yellow-tailed,[11] and the consensus since then has been to treat them as three separate species.[9]

Description

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Baudin's black cockatoo is about 56 cm (22 in) long. It is mostly dark-grey with narrow vague light-grey scalloping, which is produced by narrow pale-grey margins at the tip of dark-grey feathers. It has a crest of short feathers on its head, and it has whitish patches of feathers that cover its ears. Its lateral tail feathers are white with black tips, and the central tail feathers are all black. The irises are dark brown and the legs are brown-grey. Its beak is longer and narrower than that of the closely related and similar Carnaby's black cockatoo.[12]

The adult male has a dark grey beak and pink eye-rings. The adult female has a bone coloured beak, grey eye-rings, and its ear patches are paler than that of the male. Juveniles have a bone coloured beak, grey eye-rings, and have less white in the tail feathers.[12]

One individual had reached an age of 47 years by 1996.[13]

Distribution and habitat

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Illustration by Herbert Goodchild, 1916–17

The Baudin's black cockatoo is one of two species of white-tailed black cockatoo endemic to south-western Australia which were only separated taxonomically in 1948. It is closely associated with moist, heavily forested areas dominated by marri Corymbia calophylla and is threatened by habitat destruction.

Conservation

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The range of threats to the declining population, estimated to be between ten and fifteen thousand remaining individuals, has been since 2021 listed with the conservation status of Critically Endangered by IUCN.[1]

The bird is part of an annual census, the Great Cocky Count, that has been held every year since 2009 to track the population change of Baudin's and other black cockatoos.[14]

Sites identified by BirdLife International as being important for Baudin's black cockatoo conservation are Araluen-Wungong, Gidgegannup, Jalbarragup, Mundaring-Kalamunda, North Dandalup, the Stirling Range and The Lakes.[15]

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References

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  1. ^ a b BirdLife International 2022. Zanda baudinii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T22684727A210840935. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22684727/210840935. Downloaded on 29 July 2022.
  2. ^ Lear, Edward (1831). Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots. London: Published by the author. Plate 26.
  3. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. ^ Mathews, Gregory M. (1913). "Additions and corrections to my reference list". Austral Avian Record. 1 (8): 187–196 [196].
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Parrots, cockatoos". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  6. ^ Saunders, Denis (1974). "Subspeciation in the White-tailed Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus baudinii, in Western Australia". Wildlife Research. 1: 55. doi:10.1071/WR9740055.
  7. ^ Christidis, Les and Walter E. Boles (2008) Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds ISBN 978-0-643-06511-6
  8. ^ White, Nicole E.; Phillips, Matthew J.; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.; Alfaro-Núñez, Alonzo; Willerslev, Eske; Mawson, Peter R.; Spencer, Peter B.S.; Bunce, Michael (June 2011). "The evolutionary history of cockatoos (Aves: Psittaciformes: Cacatuidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 59 (3): 615–622. Bibcode:2011MolPE..59..615W. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.03.011. PMID 21419232.
  9. ^ a b Christidis, Les; Boles, Walter E (2008). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Canberra: CSIRO Publishing. pp. 150–51. ISBN 978-0-643-06511-6.
  10. ^ Saunders, Denis A (1979). "Distribution and taxonomy of the White-tailed and Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos Calyptorhynchus spp". Emu. 79 (4): 215–27. Bibcode:1979EmuAO..79..215S. doi:10.1071/MU9790215.
  11. ^ Adams, M; Baverstock, PR; Saunders, DA; Schodde, R; Smith, GT (1984). "Biochemical systematics of the Australian cockatoos (Psittaciformes: Cacatuinae)". Australian Journal of Zoology. 32 (3): 363–77. doi:10.1071/ZO9840363.
  12. ^ a b Forshaw (2006). plate 1.
  13. ^ Brouwer K, Jones M, King C, Schifter H (2000). "Longevity records for Psittaciformes in captivity". International Zoo Yearbook. 37: 299–316. doi:10.1111/j.1748-1090.2000.tb00735.x.
  14. ^ "Record number of volunteers sign up for Great Cocky Count". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2 April 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  15. ^ "Baudin's Black-Cockatoo". Important Bird Areas. BirdLife International. 2012. Archived from the original on 2001-11-28. Retrieved 2012-11-04.

Cited texts

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