Nothing like a party to get the mob together! Brendan cannot find anyone in his family that are interested in celebrating his birthday! It looks like he will miss out! But his mother has other ideas!
It'‘s time to get reading!
Brendan is a young black cockatoo who loves a party - like most of the young readers this story is aimed at. Follow him and his adventures with his brothers and sisters - as well as the animals of Bruny Island - to the best birthday party ever!
A little about Brendan…
Brendan the Black Cockatoo on Bruny Island is the fourth illustrated children's storybook in the On Bruny Island animal series. The stories deal with animals on Bruny Island because the relatively unspoiled habitat on most of the island make the problems the animals face more obvious.
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Black Cockatoos, (Zanda Funerea), are found in mobs all over Bruny. island.
In the 1880s, when Bruny Island was settled by the colonials from Hobart, many species of pine trees were planted as windbreaks, along roadways and across farms. These trees thrived and became the home to many cockatoos who loved the kernels of the pine cones that the trees grew in abundance. The birds made their nests, bred their babies, and enjoyed their social life in these pine trees.
Unfortunately, Pinus Radiata and Pinus Macracarpa - the most planted species - do have a limited life span and as they are coming up for 200 years old, many stands of trees are in danger of falling or breaking up so the local council is removing many of them on Bruny for safety reasons.
It was this aspect of how man’s activities affects our wildlife that created the story of Brendan. There are several big pines in Dennes Point that the local mobs of Black Cockatoos seem to meet in. They jump to and fro on the branches, calling, chattering,, eating pine cones, dropping them on passersby, and look like they are having a wonderful time together. Unfortunately, these gatherings seem to be happening less and less as their nesting holes and food sources are disappearing.
The story of Brendan shows the close social contact the mobs have and how important it is that they belong to their own flock. If their food source and nesting sites are gradually reduced then the mobs will be forced to disperse to survive.
Black cockatoos are a wonderful example of the sociability of birds and hopefully will impress on all those who read about Brendan, of the importance of family over all else.
