I think you need a licence for any of the black cockatoos here now Oedipussrex

Which is a good thing.
I have lived around both yellow and red... they are MAGNIFICENT. When I own acreage one day I WILL have one. They are about $1000 - $5000 to buy here in Aus. Well worth it though.
They are LOUD! Forget about ALL other cockatoo species, these things have a set of lungs that will knock your socks off... however they very infrequently call, they are more like galahs in that respect. They hang out in very small family groups and seem to have down to the minute timing on their flight schedule for the day LOL
So good in fact I know at about 4:50pm I will hear them flying overhead... and believe me, regardless of the fact there is only a group of two to seven at any one time you WILL hear them

But they make this fabulous drawn out powerful cry that lifts my heart everytime I hear it. I wouldn't want to be in a room with one making that noise but hearing it from a few hundred meters - a couple of kms away is beautiful
But there is not a bird like them... huge gentle giants. They are more commonly kept than you think Oedipussrex
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFniC376EIk]Red Tailed Black Cockatoo (Gunnedah Bird Show 2008 NSW Austr - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp4E-w_dAa8]Red-tailed Black Cockatoo - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4GeSA0LPV4]Red tailed black cockatoo - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeSHDhPzs_8]Red tailed black cockatoo putting on a harness - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpft7V94VwM]Bubby The Black Cockatoo Flying - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo-lfImC1LQ]Puppy, my black cockatoo flying - YouTube[/ame]
Bubby used to have heaps of video's on youtube but I cant find them now! I guess he cancelled his account. Such a shame! The guy ADORES him... takes him free flying every day and despite the fact that bubby has chewed on all their possessions (the car included!), he is treated as part of the family and very much loved. They are a much more "reserved" bird than most other cockatoo species, having a quiet dignity about them which is not typical of the Aussie cockatoos (who are usually pretty energetic and obnoxious

). I think their quiet reserved nature comes from the fact they are not a ground dwelling cockatoo like the others, they spend most of their time high in trees and flying high overhead. Parents often take young birds closer to the ground though and where I used to live a pair often brought their youngsters to our backyard to snack as a stop over on the way to their main foraging sites. It was only a matter of minutes once or twice a week while the babies were being weaned... but I loved every minute of it
I haven't owned one... but dream of owning one
