‘Flamin’ cockatoos’ have lost much of their habitat to bushfires. Can the species survive?
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- The 2025-26 Victorian bushfires scorched 70% of the pink cockatoo's core 'pine plains' habitat in Wyperfeld National Park, reducing 178 large, old native pines in the burnt area to barely a handful.
- Dr. Victor Hurley and the 'Mallee Woodpeckers' volunteers have worked with Parks Victoria to install about 150 artificial hollows carved into charred tree trunks, since cockatoos need Callitris pines at least 85 years old (ideally 125+) to breed.
- The 2025-26 fires torched 440,000 hectares across Victoria — larger than Black Saturday — with 59,000 hectares burning inside Wyperfeld alone.
- Eastern bristlebirds lost 82% of their habitat at Howe Flat near Mallacoota, with post-fire surveys showing a 30% decrease in numbers, while South Australia's Deep Creek fires affected half the available habitat for the western beautiful firetail and Mt Lofty Ranges southern emu-wren.
- The Barengi Gadjin Land Council, representing local traditional owners, called the habitat destruction a 'major concern,' with on Country manager Colin Gorton noting the pink cockatoo 'features in our stories.'
- Pink cockatoos are the main seed dispersers for the slender cypress pines they depend on, carrying 'packed lunch' Callitris branches across the landscape according to volunteer environmental scientist Jane White.
- Wildlife tourism operator Michael Gooch says pink cockatoos, regent parrots, and malleefowl form the 'Mallee trinity' that draws visitors, with birdwatching gaining traction among younger generations.
Why it matters: The cockatoo population at Wyperfeld — the species' largest Victorian breeding site — now leans on about 150 artificial hollows because the next cohort of pines sprouted in the 1990s and won't be suitable nesting habitat for roughly another 50 years, meaning a single fire has erased a generation of breeding trees.
