From the Department of Parks and Wildlife:

From the Department of Parks and Wildlife:

If you're in areas frequented by Western Australia's 3 black cockatoos keep a look out, and your camera! 

More than 1000 black cockatoos have been banded in the last decade, including nearly 900 Carnaby’s nestlings as well as rehabilitated birds from all three WA black cockatoo species. The department are asking people to take photos of banded birds and send them in to help with research and monitoring.
 
At this time of year Carnaby’s cockatoos are returning from their breeding grounds to the coast, with flocks of several hundred now being seen on the Swan Coastal Plain, as well as the Midwest (Jurien Bay and north) and South Coast (Ravensthorpe and east).
 
Photographing the numbers on leg bands helps track the birds’ movements and survivorship. Wildlife officers have successfully photographed more than 50 bands, even identifying a bird that was more than 30 years old. 
 
DLSR cameras with large zoom lenses are best for photographing leg bands, but even small cameras with zooms can work. Try to get a few angles so we can view as many digits as possible, as the last three digits on the band are the most important.

If you photograph a bird and can identify a band number from the photo, email fauna@dpaw.wa.gov.au with the photo and location. Staff will get back to you with the age of the bird and the details of when and where it was banded.