Fast Food for Carnaby's Cockatoos
STEM 2020
Fast Food for Carnaby’s Cockatoos
Doing your bit to save our rare cockies from extinction
South Western Australia is home to three types of black cockatoos – Carnabys, Forest Red Tails and Baudins. Currently these beautiful birds can be spotted in large groups, but we are at risk of losing them forever. Once in their millions, they have dwindled to just a few thousand birds and face extinction within a few years. Land clearing, burning and loss tall trees means these amazing birds are running out of food.
But we can help! If every school does its bit by planting nut trees, we can help bridge the food gap.
Why nut trees? It’s simple. The black cockatoos need lots of food. Almonds, pecans and macadamias grow really fast, providing great food for these birds. Healthy well fed cockatoos are able to raise healthy offspring, building up their family numbers again.
If each family and school plant a few pecans, almonds and macadamias we will have the many thousands of trees we need to save our precious cockies from extinction.
Nut-free schools can still plant native Banksia, jarrah and marri trees, but while we wait for these trees to mature our cockies will have their fast-food options courtesy of nut trees.
This is a great STEM 2020 project for CEWA schools. To find out how to get involved, contact Marion Cahill – CEWA STEM / Science Consultant: 6380 5305 or marion.cahill@cewa.edu.au
Growing Hints:
- Best time for planting is late autumn / early winter
- Pecans are a wonderful shade tree that work well on verges, lawns and playgrounds. Full sun and water are required to establish the plant, so water well for the first few summers. Being deciduous, you will have wonderful winter sunshine.
- Almonds are fast growing and flower in late winter so are a bonus for our native bees. They form a shapely, small, deciduous tree and prefer full sun. A real beauty in the landscape.
- Macadamia are the slowest growing but produce a high-quality crop of nuts that Carnaby’s adore. A full sun to part shade position is best for this evergreen small tree.
Find out more information about the black cockatoos on https://birdlife.org.au/projects/southwest-black-cockatoo-recovery
STEM 2020
Fast Food for Carnaby’s Cockatoos
Doing your bit to save our rare cockies from extinction
South Western Australia is home to three types of black cockatoos – Carnabys, Forest Red Tails and Baudins. Currently these beautiful birds can be spotted in large groups, but we are at risk of losing them forever. Once in their millions, they have dwindled to just a few thousand birds and face extinction within a few years. Land clearing, burning and loss tall trees means these amazing birds are running out of food.
But we can help! If every school does its bit by planting nut trees, we can help bridge the food gap.
Why nut trees? It’s simple. The black cockatoos need lots of food. Almonds, pecans and macadamias grow really fast, providing great food for these birds. Healthy well fed cockatoos are able to raise healthy offspring, building up their family numbers again.
If each family and school plant a few pecans, almonds and macadamias we will have the many thousands of trees we need to save our precious cockies from extinction.
Nut-free schools can still plant native Banksia, jarrah and marri trees, but while we wait for these trees to mature our cockies will have their fast-food options courtesy of nut trees.
This is a great STEM 2020 project for CEWA schools. To find out how to get involved, contact Marion Cahill – CEWA STEM / Science Consultant: 6380 5305 or marion.cahill@cewa.edu.au
Growing Hints:
- Best time for planting is late autumn / early winter
- Pecans are a wonderful shade tree that work well on verges, lawns and playgrounds. Full sun and water are required to establish the plant, so water well for the first few summers. Being deciduous, you will have wonderful winter sunshine.
- Almonds are fast growing and flower in late winter so are a bonus for our native bees. They form a shapely, small, deciduous tree and prefer full sun. A real beauty in the landscape.
- Macadamia are the slowest growing but produce a high-quality crop of nuts that Carnaby’s adore. A full sun to part shade position is best for this evergreen small tree.
Find out more information about the black cockatoos on https://birdlife.org.au/projects/southwest-black-cockatoo-recovery