A ‘COCKATOO Food Garden’ featuring some of the favourite foods of the endangered Carnaby’s black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris) will be made at Goodwill Park in Atwell, from May.
The garden is designed to complement the ‘Native Bird Oasis’ project at Bibra Lake, to help support and protect the Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo and other native birdlife by providing feed and habitat.
Created by the City of Cockburn Environmental Services Team, at a cost of $15,000 it will replace 300sq m area of couch grass with mulched garden beds planted out with more than 300 native seedlings.
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READ NOWThese seedlings will form a middle and understory of banksia, hakea and callistemon varieties beneath a canopy of marri and larger banksia trees.
After winter, several mature macadamia, pecan and tipuana trees will be planted around the new mulched garden bed.
The park already supports several mature pine trees that the cockatoos feed on.
Cockburn environmental officer Adam Harris said the selected banksia and hakea species were some of the cockatoos’ favourite food plants that also attracted honeyeaters and other birdlife.
“The mature trees surrounding the garden are appropriate exotic species which the cockatoos have learnt to feed on due to the continued clearing of their banksia eucalypt woodland which is now classified as a Threatened Ecological Community,” Mr Harris said.
“Environmental services will also apply for council funds in the 2018-19 financial year to install informative signage at the park, a bird perch and water feature to complete the project.”
The project will help inform local residents of the plight of the cockatoos.
“It is hoped the Cockatoo Garden will inspire and encourage local residents and others to plant these species in their own suburban gardens to provide further habitat and help protect the beautiful endangered Carnaby,” Mr Harris said.
The simultaneous ‘Oasis’ is a joint project between the City of Cockburn and BirdLife WA, which gathered $35,000 in grants after qualifying for $10,000 from Impact 100 WA and $25,000 from the State Government’s State Natural Resource Management Program.
An 8000sqm area of degraded banksia woodland on the eastern side of Bibra Lake will be revegetated starting this winter using local native species including those favoured by Carnaby’s and forest red-tailed black cockatoos.
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