The Long-billed corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) isn’t a species you would’ve seen in Tasmania up until relatively recently. Not native to the region, but exceptional at seizing on human agriculture as with most of their Cockatoo counterparts, they have fully integrated into a changing modern world in ways endemic species simply cannot.
Every afternoon, several hundred of them traverse the skies above my house – moving from tall eucalypts which give them comfortable roosting space, and the nearby orchards which see the ready availability of stonefruits and apples.
As they fly past, they are often thick enough to totally eclipse the Moon – something they failed here, but they certainly could’ve if they’d tried!
