Two fires in 12 years removed nearly all mature native pines in Victoria’s Wyperfeld National Park, a key area for pink cockatoos. The pink cockatoos in the park now rely on Aleppo pines for nesting and food, using their claws and beaks to feed on pine cones. More than a dozen pink cockatoos are present across a hedge row of pine trees at the park’s entrance.

In northern Queensland, a palm cockatoo chick has fledged from an artificial log hollow installed as part of a breeding habitat restoration project. There are 29 such hollows in place, created through a partnership between People For Wildlife, Apudthama Traditional Owners, and palm cockatoo expert Christina Zdenek, PhD. The palm cockatoo is a large parrot with smokey-black feathers, red cheek patches, and a dramatic crest. It lives in Australia and on the island of New Guinea, with Australia’s population confined to the Cape York Peninsula. There are possibly fewer than 2,000 palm cockatoos left in the wild in Australia. Male palm cockatoos fashion tools out of sticks and seed pods to drum on hollow trees as part of courtship displays.