An estimated 10,000 forest red tailed black cockatoos are left in the world. The species is listed as threatened. The biggest challenge faced by the forest red tails is habitat loss. As their name suggests these majestic birds traditionally live in the forest.
Decades of logging, clear fell mining and other clearing has meant that the forest red tails have had to adapt to fragmentation, loss of habitat, dwindling food supplies and declining nesting hollows. Climate change is putting more pressure on the red tails and the forest on which they depend.
In March 2022 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change listed the Northern Jarrah Forest as one of 19 ecosystems around the world at significant risk of collapse due to changing climate conditions. Despite this dire warning mining continues to clearfell the red tail’s primary habitat and mining companies are lining up to strip even more of the remaining northern jarrah forest.
