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A pair of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos perching on a wire

The Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is a large cockatoo native to Australia. It is more common in the drier parts of the continent. Five subspecies are recognised, differing most significantly in beak size. Although the more northerly subspecies are widespread, the two southern subspecies are under threat. Adult Red-tailed Black Cockatoos are around 60 centimetres (24 in) in length and sexually dimorphic. Males are completely black in colour, excepting their prominent red tail bands; the slightly smaller females are black with yellow barring on chest with yellow grading to red spots over their crest, cheeks and wings and have yellow-orange tail stripes. The species is usually found in eucalyptus woodlands, or along water courses. In the more northerly parts of the country, these cockatoos are commonly seen in large flocks. They are seed eaters and cavity nesters. As such, they depend on trees with fairly large diameters, generally Eucalyptus. Populations in southeastern Australia are threatened by reduction in forest cover and other habitat alterations. Of the black cockatoos, the red-tailed black is the most adaptable to aviculture, although black cockatoos are much rarer and much more expensive outside Australia. ( more...)

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    The Scream (1893 version)

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  • On this day...

    May 4: Restoration of Independence Day in Latvia ( 1990); Star Wars Day

    Margaret Thatcher

  • 1493Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter caetera, establishing a line of demarcation dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal.
  • 1814Ferdinand VII abolished the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolutism.
  • 1886 – An unknown assailant threw a bomb into a crowd of police, turning a peaceful labor rally in Chicago into the Haymarket massacre, which resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and many bystanders.
  • 1942World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy engaged Allied naval forces at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other.
  • 1979 Margaret Thatcher (pictured) became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, following the defeat of James Callaghan's incumbent Labour government in the previous day's general election.
  • More anniversaries: May 3 May 4 May 5

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    Today's featured picture

    Monarch butterfly with a tracking tag

    A monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) at the Cape May Bird Observatory in New Jersey, US, with a plastic sticker on it to help researchers track animal migration. Tracking information is used to study the migration patterns of monarchs, including how far and where they fly.

    Photo: Derek Ramsey

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