Beach almond & red tailed black cockatoo

Beach almonds (Terminalia spp.)

Beach almonds (Terminalia spp.), common along the North Queensland coast, get their name from their beach location and the almond-shaped fruit they produce.

In the wet season they have large oval leaves on layered branches that provide shade and protection. In the dry season they are deciduous, lose all their leaves and are easily distinguishable from other local trees by their leafless layered limbs.

The beach almond and the native kapok have seasonal colour rarely seen in the dry tropics. Before beach almonds drop their leaves they turn a brilliant red and rusty orange colour. In the dry season, the leafless, yellow flowering kapok is a vibrant contrast to the reds and yellows of the almonds.

Six species of beach almond occur on Magnetic Island - Terminalia catappa, Terminalia arenicola; Terminalia muelleri; Terminalia melanocarpa; Terminalia porphyrocarpa and Terminalia sericocarpa. All species grow close to the coast and all six species can be seen in Nelly Bay. The native rain tree, Terminalia sericocarpa, is a giant rainforest tree growing to over 20 m tall.

Red Tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus magnificus)

During the dry season, when the trees are fruiting, it is quite common to see red tailed black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus magnificus) feeding on the sweet flesh of the beach almond fruit. The black males have startling bright red bands in the tail, which splay out in flight. The females, and young for the first few years, have yellow speckles and bars on their dark plumage with splashes of orange in their tails. The cockatoos 'prune' the twigs with fruit, crack the outer nut, and leave the nuts to soften up on the ground under the trees. They return up to a week later to eat the softened nut.

The red tailed black cockatoo is a seasonal visitor to the Island, usually flying over from Pallarenda on the mainland when there is a plentiful supply of beach almonds or other similar native fruits like the spiky she-oak nuts.