2010/01/12

The Long-billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) or Nasenkakadu

This is another representative of the family of cockatoos and even noisier than their relatives the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (see BOTW # 10). To no avail did we try to find sleep in our little tent near the town of Echuca on the banks of the mighty Murray River whilst at least hundreds of these fellows had a big party in the trees around us. The branches were packed with chatting and bickering couples until late into the night and it was pretty hard to say how many of these birds actually populated the red gum trees. This mass gathering is even more amazing given that the species was considered strongly threatened with less than 1000 remaining individuals in the nineteen fifties. This decline was due to the explosion of the population of the rabbits, a major pest in Australia that are assumed to descend all from 24 animals that one Thomas Austin released in 1859 for the only reason that he liked to shoot them. His hobby had almost fatal consequences for the Long-billed Corellas who are ground feeders like the rabbits who are therefore direct competitors for food. Luckily in 1950 the rabbit-borne disease Myxomatosis, was deliberately released into the rabbit population, causing it to drop from an estimated 600 million to around 100 million. The decline of the rabbits led to a rapid recovery of the Long-billed Corellas even to a extent that they are regarded as pests themselves in some regions of their distribution area. A happy end for these very social birds and me and Mrs. Schmitz as well when they finally stopped partying so we could get our well deserved sleep under the Gum trees at the banks of the mighty Murray River.

Next week: The Pacific Black Duck or a example for successful integration of immigrants in Australia