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Establishing integration of an individual bird into a wild flock is particularly important in species that are highly gregarious and are reliant on the flock to increase their likelihood of survivorship. When individuals, rehabilitated and reintroduced to wild flocks, are tracked through satellite or global positioning system (GPS) telemetry, it is of further significance to establish integration to assess rehabilitation success and whether the individual can serve as a marker of the flock. To date, for black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus spp.) this has been achieved through visual observations, which requires fieldbased observations that may not be possible because of inaccessible terrain, or may be untenable because the tagged individual can move quickly or is cryptic within a given land cover type. To establish whether an individual had joined a flock, we proposed the use of behavioral change point analysis. Our analyses showed that for GPS data of 6 individuals of the 3 black cockatoo species endemic to Western Australia we could demonstrate behavioral differences in their movement paths that were either individual or flocked (integrated) behavior. We undertook field observations to validate integration into wild flocks. We characterized flocked behavior as a constant, repeated pattern at variable levels of velocity. Individual behavior manifested in 2 different forms: resident and exploratory behavior. The analysis showed that all birds had integrated into a wild flock within a month of release. Behavioral change point analysis is a useful method to characterize movement behavior in black cockatoos and to confirm their membership within a flock. Furthermore, confirmation of flock membership makes it possible to use the data from 1 tagged bird to indicate movement behavior at the flock level. Ó 2018 The Wildlife Society.

Context Carnaby’s (Calyptorhychus latirostris), Baudin’s (Calyptorhynchus baudinii) and forest red-tailed black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii naso) are threatened parrot species endemic to south-western Australia. Behavioural monitoring has previously involved direct observation, which has proven challenging because of their cryptic nature, the type of habitat they move through and their speed of movement. The development of a model to accurately classify behaviour from tri-axial accelerometer data will provide greater insight into black cockatoo behaviour and ecology. Aims To develop an automated classifier model to classify accelerometer data from released black cockatoos to determine behaviour and activity budgets for three species of black cockatoo. Methods In the present study, we attached tri-axial accelerometers, housed in GPS tags, to four Carnaby’s cockatoos, three forest red-tailed black cockatoos and two Baudin’s cockatoos in captive care, undergoing rehabilitation for release back to the wild. Accelerometer data from these birds was coupled with 19 video files of the birds’ behaviour when flying, feeding and resting, to develop an automated behaviour classifier. The classifier was then used to annotate accelerometer data from 15 birds released after successful rehabilitation and to calculate activity budgets for these birds post-release. Key results We developed a classifier able to identify resting, flying and foraging behaviours from accelerometer data with 86% accuracy, as determined by the percentage of observed behaviours correctly identified by the classifier. The application of the classifier to accelerometer data from 15 released cockatoos enabled us to determine behaviours and activity budgets for all three species of black cockatoo. Black cockatoos spent most of their time at rest, followed by foraging with a short period of time flying. Conclusions Application of the classifier to data from released birds gives researchers the ability to remotely identify patterns of behaviour and calculate activity budgets. Implications Combining behaviour and activity budgets with location data provides useful insight into cockatoo movement, distribution, and habitat use. Such information is important for informing conservation efforts and addressing outstanding research objectives. Further studies including larger sample sizes of Baudin’s and forest red-tailed black cockatoos and comparing behaviour and activity between birds in breeding and non-breeding areas are warranted.

Anthropogenic landscape modification which leads to the displacement of species, is arguably one of the most profound impacts on animal movement globally. In urban landscapes, animal movement is generally impacted by varying levels of increased urbanization. However, this is species dependent and is mostly guided by the surrounding habitat. Fragmentation and habitat patch isolation must be considered at scales appropriate to the study species. Using telemetry, we test these assumptions investigating movement patterns of flocks of Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii naso; RTBC) between three regions: urban, peri-urban, and forest using GPS and satellite PTT. This species occurs at varying levels of urbanization, however, how this might affect its movements is largely unknown. We did not find evidence that RTBC movement was impaired in the urban region compared with peri-urban or forest regions. It found, however, a significant within-region variation in movement extent among flocks and across regions depending on foraging resource availability and location. Differences in daily movement distance (Av. 4.96 -16.41 km) and home range size (6.02 -52.57 km 2 ) between urban flocks appeared to be associated with the proximity of green spaces as roosts and foraging sites, with roadside vegetation providing important foraging resources and movement corridors. Key urban habitats were predominantly located in public nature reserves and private properties, with roadside vegetation connecting these sites for RTBC. The findings of this study highlight that conservation management for this and many other threatened species should regard the urban landscape as a critical habitat for urban adapted species. This would include management of its green spaces with connectivity and offsets from roads in mind. Furthermore, future research should focus on identifying additional key habitat sites (resource selection) and species distribution modeling, which will facilitate an active and adaptive approach towards this species' conservation management. Espèces spécialistes de la forêt en paysage urbain : les divers degrés d'urbanisation affectent-ils les déplacements du Cacatoès banksien (Calyptorhynchus banksii naso)?RÉSUMÉ. Les modifications anthropiques du paysage, qui entraînent le déplacement des espèces, représentent sans doute l'un des impacts les plus néfastes sur les déplacements des animaux dans le monde. En paysage urbain, les déplacements des animaux sont généralement affectés par des degrés variables d'urbanisation galopante. Cependant, ce phénomène dépend des espèces et est principalement guidé par l'habitat environnant. La fragmentation et l'isolement des parcelles d'habitat doivent être pris en compte à des échelles appropriées à l'espèce étudiée. Au moyen de la télémétrie, nous avons testé ces hypothèses en examinant les schémas de déplacement de groupes de Cacatoès banksiens (Calyptorhynchus banksii naso) entre trois régions : urbaine, périurbaine et forestière, en utilisant le GPS et des émetteurs ...