Black Cockatoo Roosting Sites Buffered from Annual Great Cocky Count

Roosting site data for three black cockatoo species recorded during the annual Great Cocky Count event. The dataset contains buffered locations from surveys conducted each year since 2010. It was created by Geoff Barrett of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial distribution of 'Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo' and 'White Tailed Cockatoo' roosting sites to identify habitat corridors
• Model temporal trends in roost site usage using the annual survey data collected since 2010
• Assess regional species identification protocols, distinguishing 'Carnabys Cockatoo' on the Perth-Peel Coastal Plain from generic 'white-tailed' records elsewhere

Strengths

• Annual data collection provides a consistent time series spanning from 2010 to present
• Includes records for three distinct species: Carnaby’s, Baudin’s, and Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos
• Roost sites are spatially processed with a 1-kilometer buffer for analysis

Limitations

• Data represents a single-day snapshot each year, which may not capture seasonal or daily roosting variability
• Species identification is region-dependent, with 'white-tailed' records in some areas not distinguishing between Carnaby’s and Baudin’s cockatoos

Provenance

Source

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions

Collection Method

Annual Great Cocky Count event recording birds as they fly into night roosts on a single day

Time Range

Annual surveys since 2010

Freshness

Updated annually in early to mid-April; last metadata update was March 2026.

Geography

Includes the Perth-Peel Coastal Plain and other areas in Western Australia