A three-month search across 21,000 square kilometres for one of Australia's rarest cockatoos has paid off, with a 'momentous' discovery in northern New South Wales.
Conservationists have located a pair of glossy black cockatoos at Bogangar near Casuarina Beach in the Tweed Shire.
Glossies Northern Rivers project manager, Harry Hackett, said she could not wipe the smile from her face when she spied the rare pair.
"It was just a momentous 'eureka' moment," she said.
"We were so excited, but being really quiet and low key so as to not disturb the birds.
"It took nearly three months for us to locate our first pair of glossies in the area that we are searching in."
It is estimated the birds, which rely on tiny cones from casuarina, or she-oak, trees and large eucalypts for nesting, lost up to 50 per cent of their habitat on the NSW North Coast in the 2019 bushfires.
Glossy black cockatoos are one of the more threatened species of cockatoo in Australia and are listed as vulnerable in NSW.
The birds are located up and down the east coast of mainland Australia, from Queensland to Victoria, with a population on Kangaroo Island.
'Uphill battle' to save species
Conservationists say the species has lost a large tract of habitat due to a number of factors, including land clearing, development, and bushfires.
"They have got an uphill battle largely because of loss of habitat," Ms Hackett said.
The birds needed large deep hollows up to 1.5 metres deep and only ate from their favoured trees.
"Part of that is about planting their favoured feed trees so we are raising the next generation of food resources for glossies," she said.
A federal environment department spokesperson said the eastern glossy black cockatoo was not listed as a threatened species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, but a listing assessment had been undertaken and would be considered by the minister in coming weeks.
