This is Bird Note.

The alpine forests of Australia Southeast are home to an iconic pint-sized gray parrot with a bright red mohawk,

and a call that's been described as a flying creaky gait.

The Gang-Gang cockatoo has seen significant habitat loss in recent years,

especially after the 2020 wildfires.

It's now listed as an endangered species.

A new national working group is coordinating recovery efforts.

Researchers and community scientists are trialling an innovation on the gang gang population called the cockatube.

These cockatoo's nest in the hollows of old growth eucalyptus, lining the holes with bark they strip from surrounding

trees. And these large hollows are harder to find after the wildfires. While the gang-gang

would just tear apart a typical wooden nest box, artificial tubes made of beak-resistant PVC

might just do the trick. These cocker tubes are the ideal size for a gang gang

nest and feature drainage holes, a temperature logging device for researchers to check

conditions, and a chewing stick for nest material. Volunteers will spend the next five

years monitoring the nests with hopes of jump-starting the gang-gang population.

For Bird Note, I'm Ariana Rimmel.