Glossy Black Cockatoo
Community volunteers are needed to become “cockatoo counters” as part of the second Great Inland Glossy Count on 21 November. The count is organised by NSW Saving our Species program and anyone can be part of it. “Bird lovers, citizen scientists or anyone with an interest in this beautiful threatened species, are needed to survey Glossy Black Cockatoo populations at three key sites that includes Goobang National Park and surrounds,” said National Parks and Wildlife Service Senior Project Officer Adam Fawcett. The other two sites are Pilliga Forests and Goonoo National Park. “Listed as vulnerable in NSW, glossies are easily spotted with their distinctive red markings and this cockatoo count will help our scientists understand more about this threatened bird.”
This is the second year the Great Inland Glossy Count has occurred. In 2019 seventy volunteers participated and counted over 700 Glossy Black Cockatoos across inland NSW. “We are hoping to get 100 volunteers this year.” Volunteers will need to pre-register using the Department of Planning Industry and Environment’s
Volunteer Portal and will be required to follow COVID guidelines. “The only requirements are the ability to make your way to a dam allocated by the Saving our Species team and to bring a pair of binoculars, a comfy chair and a notepad.”
“It is a pretty amazing thing to see a threatened species in the wild and we love that we are able to give people this opportunity to get involved in threatened species conservation,” Adam said.