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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 30(6)

Movements of adult and fledgling Carnaby’s Cockatoos (Zanda latirostris Carnaby, 1948) from eleven breeding areas throughout their range

Denis A. Saunders https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5959-573X A , Peter R. Mawson https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6729-2966 B * , Rick Dawson B , Heather Beswick C , Geoffrey Pickup D and Kayley Usher E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Retired. Weetangera, ACT 2614, Australia. Email: carnabys@hotmail.com

B Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia. Email: rickd@abcs.au

C Retired. Drummond Cove, WA 6532, Australia. Email: heffy59@westnet.com.au

D Retired. Nicholls, ACT 2913, Australia. Email: pickup02@westnet.com.au

E University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. Email: kayley.usher@uwa.edu.au

* Correspondence to: petermawson1@hotmail.com

Handling Editor: Rob Davis

Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC24042 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC24042
Submitted: 7 June 2024  Accepted: 24 October 2024  Published: 12 November 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Carnaby’s Cockatoo is an endangered species and the subject of a recovery plan.

Aims

Our study examined movements of adult and fledgling Carnaby’s Cockatoos from 11 breeding populations in southwestern Australia to establish where the cockatoos spent the non-breeding season (February–May) and sub-adult life-stage.

Methods

Data were collected on point-to-point movements from re-sightings and recoveries of cockatoos individually marked with patagial tags or leg bands. Sites were mostly located in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. Distribution patterns in the breeding and non-breeding seasons, including nesting sites were derived from location data from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ Threatened and Priority Database.

Key results

After breeding, adults and their fledglings moved from breeding areas to higher rainfall areas closer to the west and south coasts of south-western Australia where the food supply is greater and more reliable. Sub-adult cockatoos roam much more widely than adults and utilize foraging habitat not previously recognized as being important to this species.

Conclusions

Important foraging habitat and locations have been identified for breeding populations in the north and south of the range of Carnaby’s Cockatoos.

Implications

More conservation attention needs to be focussed on locating additional breeding populations, assessing the viability of these populations, and the extent and condition of their nesting and foraging habitat used during their non-breeding season. Conservation of Carnaby’s Cockatoo depends on the maintenance of remnant native vegetation and revegetation of nesting and foraging habitat throughout its range.

Keywords: Carnaby’s Cockatoo, dispersal patterns, leg bands, non-breeding foraging habitat, patagial tags, Zanda latirostris.

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