Zanda funerea
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Zanda funerea) is a large cockatoo native to the south-east of Australia measuring 55–65 cm (22–26 in) in length. It has a short crest on the top of its head. Its plumage is mostly brownish black and it has prominent yellow cheek patches and a yellow tail band. The body feathers are edged with yellow giving a scalloped appearance. The adult male has a black beak and pinkish-red eye-rings, and the female has a bone-coloured beak and grey eye-rings. In flight, yellow-tailed black cockatoos flap deeply and slowly, with a peculiar heavy fluid motion. Their loud, wailing calls carry for long distances. The yellow-tailed black cockatoo is found in temperate forests and forested areas across south and central eastern Queensland to southeastern South Australia, including a very small population persisting in the Eyre Peninsula. Two subspecies are recognised, although Tasmanian and southern mainland populations of the southern subspecies xanthanotus may be distinct enough from each other to bring the total to three. Birds of subspecies funereus (Queensland to eastern Victoria) have longer wings and tails and darker plumage overall, while those of xanthanotus (western Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania) have more prominent scalloping.
The subspecies whiteae is found south of Victoria to the East of South Australia and is smaller in size. The yellow-tailed black cockatoo's diet primarily includes seeds of native and introduced plants while also feeding on wood-boring grubs. They nest in large hollows high in old growth native trees (~ greater than 200 years old), generally Eucalyptus regnans. Although they remain common throughout much of their range, fragmentation of habitat and loss of large trees suitable for nesting has caused population decline in Victoria and South Australia. Furthermore, the species may lose most of its mainland range due to climate change. In some places yellow-tailed black cockatoos appear to have partially adapted to recent human alteration of landscape and they can often be seen in parts of urban Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. The species is not commonly seen in aviculture, especially outside Australia. Like most parrots, it is protected by CITES, an international agreement that makes trade, export, and import of listed wild-caught species illegal. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilsons Promontory National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Booderee National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Grampians National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Maria Island National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 10 | Kosciuszko National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 11 | Freycinet National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 13 | Flinders Chase | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 14 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Cleland Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | East Coast Natureworld | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Paphos Zoo | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | |
| 5 | Loro Parque | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Gorge Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Greenough Wildlife & Bird Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 10 | Caversham Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 11 | Wildlife Habitat Port Douglas | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Wirrimbirra Flora & Fauna Sanctuary | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo sighting in Great Otway National Park on a given day, based on 1,352 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 175 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo in Great Otway National Park on a given day, against about 10% in June to September, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo sightings, Great Otway National Park ranks 2nd at about 40%. The best odds are in Wilsons Promontory National Park (Australia, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Psittacidae
The closest relatives of the Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo that you can see in Great Otway National Park (family Psittacidae, New World and African Parrots) are Crimson Rosella (about 80%), Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (about 70%) and Galah (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Great Otway National Park (1,352 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
