South eastern Red tailed Black Cockatoo Recovery Project

15/06/2026

Our Annual Count results are almost out! Keep your eyes out for a post this week.

In the meantime here is a beautiful video of South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos by local tour guide Wayne Caldow. Wayne has a long history with red-tails, having been involved in the early research to build our understanding of these beautiful birds.

01/05/2026

What an incredible milestone — 30 years of the Red‑tail Annual Count, and our biggest wave of volunteers yet!

We’re blown away by the number of people joining us tomorrow to help monitor our much‑loved Red‑tailed Black‑Cockatoos. This community effort has been going strong since 1996, and seeing so many hands raised for the 30th year is truly something special.

A huge thank‑you to everyone who’s stepping up to care for Country and support this long‑running conservation program. Your time, energy, and passion make this work possible.

Here’s to a fantastic count day and an even brighter future for our Red‑tails.

This project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by Wimmera CMA, Limestone Coast Landscape Board and Glenelg Hopkins CMA members of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

01/05/2026

Celebrating 30 years of the Annual Cocky Count - tomorrow!

Since 1996, volunteers across the region have come together each May to help monitor our precious Red‑tailed Black‑Cockatoos. This year marks 30 years of this important community‑driven conservation effort.

Autumn and winter bring the spectacular sight of large Red‑tail flocks, giving us our best chance each year to gather meaningful data. Through the count we gain:

- a minimum flock estimate

- insights into how the birds are using habitat

- a yearly snapshot of stringybark habitat health

Following the annual count, our detailed flock counts help us understand breeding success from the previous season.

We are deeply honoured that Aunty Cathy Munroe of Gunditjmara will welcome volunteers with a ceremony on Saturday. This will take place before the 9am training session in Casterton.

All volunteers are warmly invited. If you have any questions, please contact me on 1800 262 062.

Here’s to 30 years of community, conservation, and caring for Country.

This project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by Glenelg Hopkins CMA, Limestone Coast Landscape Board and Wimmera CMA members of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

Photo credit: Mike Sverns

22/04/2026

Can you be a cocky counter on your farm?

Landholders of southwest Victoria and southeast South Australia: Do you have Southeastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoos visiting your troughs, trees and dams?

The volunteers on May 2 for the annual Red Tail Cocky Count have the public land areas covered, but counting on private land helps get a clearer picture of the number of birds.

You can log sightings at any time online, or take a wander around your paddocks on May 2.

For more information on our recovery project for the SeRtBC visit our website.

South eastern Red tailed Black Cockatoo Recovery Project
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water



This recovery project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and is delivered by Glenelg Hopkins CMA, Wimmera CMA, Limestone Coast Landscape Board and BirdLife Australia.

16/04/2026

Thinking about joining our Annual Cocky Count?

Not sure if you’ve got the skills? Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered.

Every year we offer beginner‑friendly training to help new counters learn how to survey for our beautiful Red‑tailed Black‑Cockatoos.

Start with our training video on identifying South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos:
https://youtu.be/SQah6DXZIww?si=tB-2MPHJ1tpY4aLO

This project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by Glenelg Hopkins CMA, Limestone Coast Landscape Board and Wimmera CMA members of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.



Threatened Species Commissioner
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

This video provides information about how to identify South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos.

15/04/2026

A quick reminder, don't forget to register for our upcoming Annual Count on Saturday the 2nd of May.

Register here: https://birdlife.org.au/events/south-eastern-red-tailed-black-cockatoo-annual-cocky-count/

Thank you to the amazing number of people who have registered so far. We have had an excellent response with a lot of new volunteers signing up and so many people returning to do the count again. It is fantastic to see such strong support for our beloved Red-tails!

This project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by Wimmera CMA, Glenelg Hopkins CMA and Limestone Coast Landscape Board, members of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

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Threatened Species Commissioner
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Photo credit: Mike Sverns

18/03/2026

18/03/2026

We are back at the South East Field days this weekend! 🥳

Heading to the Field Days at Lucindale (Friday 20th & Saturday 22nd March)? Come and say hello to the South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Recovery Team at Site 358 (358 Shepherd Street) with Trees For Life (SA)!

Follow the Blue Yakka Trail and collect one of our unique Red-tail keyrings while you’re there 👀

📍 Visit us to:
• Register for this year’s Annual Count
• Report a Red-tail sighting (location, time, date, numbers and behaviour)
• Learn how you can help restore critical feeding habitat
• Chat about revegetation and habitat conservation programs
• Sign up for our Red-tail News newsletter
• Find out what’s happening in Red-tail recovery

✨ And we’ve heard Karak might even make an appearance… so don’t forget to grab a photo!

If you can’t make it registrations are also open online for our annual count. Learn how you can get involved: https://www.redtail.com.au/how-to-get-involved-in-counts

Don’t forget every sighting counts! If you happen to see a Red-tail, please report it at — https://www.redtail.com.au/report-a-sighting.html - your information helps us protect this incredible endangered species.

We’d love to see you this weekend there and have a chat about how you can support the Red-tails!!!

This project is funded by the Australian Government National Heritage Trust and delivered by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board, members of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Trees For Life (SA)

27/02/2026

27/02/2026

Tomorrow we’ll be at the Wood Wine and Roses Festival sharing information about the amazing South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo 🖤❤️

If you’re in the area, pop your head in and say hello! We’ll be:
✅ Taking registrations for this year’s Annual Count
✅ Sharing information on how you can get involved
📸 And Karak will be there too — so don’t forget to grab a photo!

We’d love to see you there and have a chat about how you can help support this beautiful species.