Creating Black Cockatoo Friendly Suburbs with Dr Christine Groom

Did you know that the Carnaby’s Cockatoo population has decreased in number by over 50% in the last 200 years since European settlement?

In time for World Wildlife Day, join Dr Christine Groom, author of Creating Black Cockatoo Friendly Suburbs, to hear how we can secure the future of Carnaby’s Cockatoos through planning, landscaping and gardening. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Carnaby’s cockatoos are a part of the fabric of Perth. Their loud calls, messy feeding habits and endearing personalities make them easily recognisable to anyone living or visiting the suburbs of Perth. But their numbers are declining as their habitats are lost to development and other threats.

To help secure the future of Carnaby’s cockatoos our suburbs need to be better suited to their needs. Planning, landscaping and gardening with black cockatoos in mind will not only help the species but it will also create greener, cooler suburbs for everyone to enjoy. Creating Black Cockatoo Friendly Suburbs (UWA Publishing, 2024) provides the ‘how-to’ in a user-friendly way to bridge the gap for planners, policy makers, scientists, home gardeners and naturalists to help the survival of Carnaby’s cockatoos and enhance urban biodiversity.

Carnaby’s cockatoo is a focus of the book, however the advice can easily be translated to other species of black cockatoo occurring in urban areas elsewhere in Australia.

ABOUT CHRISTINE GROOM

Christine Groom lives in the Perth Hills. Carnaby’s cockatoos regularly visit her garden to prune the banksias and hakeas planted for them. She completed her PhD, studying Carnaby’s cockatoos in the urban landscape of Perth in 2015 and was awarded a Diploma of Landscape Design in 2021. Christine undertakes outreach activities to inspire and educate the community on how they can contribute to conserving Carnaby’s cockatoos and create urban environments that enable people to be close to nature. Christine has been working with all levels of government to undertake on-ground projects, groundbreaking research and to infuse the knowledge gained into advice and policy to effect long-term change.