I have had a strange backyard visitor and request ID or info.
It is a male Yellow Tail Black Cockatoo BUT it is in reverse colour. It is nearly all yellow with black cheek patches and black in the tail. It is huge- bigger than the normal female it arrived with - presume to be its mother. Is this just a juvenile and his colour will change later? or is this a mutant? They were eating the grubs from the wattle tree and have been seen several times. I have photos which I will send or post if needed.
I know I would love to see your photo's of this bird, Slayer. Sounds most unusual.
Whereabouts are you situated, Slayer? I have just been told of 2 sightings of a 3/4 yellow coloured Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo in the Mt Arapiles area in Victoria.
I live on a rural property on the eastern range btween Queanbeyan and Bungendore and Canberra. We get quite a few black cockys due to pine plantations, casurina trees etc. I will post the photos tomorrow - I don;t have them at work with me.any help appreciated
My friend who has been bird watching and photographing them for 40 years thinks these type of birds are just a fluke, like a brown Magpie, or a redrump he saw that had yellow wings. Oh, he also said there have been sightings of a white galah here too. White where the grey would be, but the usual pink on it. He doesn't think they pass the colour on.
Would these be 'lutino'? can you see the eyes? are they dark pigmented or red?
here are some photos of the yellow black cocky as promised
and some links to other photos in album
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/ufology616/
tell me if you want the photos sent another way - email etc
sorry about photo size but if you go to the album link you can see them all
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg170/ufology616/
What an amazing bird! Obviously a different one to the "yellow" Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo that was seen down here. Hope you don't mind, Slayer, but I gave the link to the photo's to my friend. I think he has seen the other bird and I'll be interested to hear his comparison. Must give him the link to this forum actually as both he and his wife are interested.
What an excellent find.
Might have to call it a black-tailed yellow cockatoo!
Great that you got photos as it is so hard to believe otherwise.
Mind you, I've heard tell of a completely white wagtail in out area. Must go look for it!
---booshkie---
The cocky has a genetic condition called "Leucism".
A leucistic bird or animal has a lack of pigmentation that causes it to appear paler than normal - in places or all over.
I thought readers of this thread might be interested in news of a completely black kookaburra!
Read more here:
http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/newposts/348/post348978.shtm
---booshkie---
Oops! Full thread here:
http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/newposts/348/topic348905.shtm
Pics here:
http://www.lavis.id.au/gallery/v/Tods-Photos/20072008-BackyardVisitors/BlackKookaburra/
---booshkie---
booshkie may I draw your attention the post put into identifications by wookiebreath. In this post the person has put in very clear photos of a black kookaburra found at their place.
Thanks serendipity.
The poster, wookiebreath, found his/her way to this forum via the Scribblygum forum.
It's the same black kookaburra that I was linking to (above)
---booshkie---
This seems to have turned into the thread for birds of unusual pigmentation.
Here's another:
http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/01/white_adelie_penguin.php
---booshkie---