Cassowary Identification

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The Kuranda Conservation cassowary identification project has the following aims:

to record individual cassowaries
follow their movements
identify road crossings
record behaviour between various birds
track juveniles’ dispersal to identify areas for vegetation enhancement

FACTORS for the identification of individual birds

The best way to identify individual birds is to take photos regularly, noting any significant changes. Adult birds have enough variation in the following areas to be easily identified once you know what to look for in their features. Photos illustrate these points below – to see larger size photos please click on any picture.

CASQUE – tall helmet-like part above the head

height, shape, and orientation eg, whether it leans to the right or left
markings or damage
colour eg, some have black keratin patterning – take care when noting what looks like tiny patches of different colour as sometimes this can be the “peeling’ outer layer with an often golden colour beneath – this seems to even out in a fairly short time.

WATTLES

Size, shape and colour patterning. Colour and length can change rapidly depending on mood, season, posture, etc, so it is better to concentrate on the patterning itself. The bottom three wattle photos show an unusual wattle on a female. Different wattle sizes and shapes are all features for identifying an individual. Further photos answered the question of ‘can it really be three wattles?’. No it wasn’t – there are actually the two wattles with one of them divided part way up. Another great reason to take as many close photos as possible of any distinctive factors.

FACE

yellow, blue, white and/or black patterning in various areas, or in some cases it may be the lack of these patternings that are worth noting with a particular bird

BEAK

any deformities, damage, or markings – keep in mind that sometimes the edges of the beak may appear damaged or have patches of different colour along it when in fact it is residue of recent fruit or seeds they have eaten

NECK

shape and colour patterning of area on back of the head and neck leading down into the feathers – remember though this will look totally different with the same bird depending on its posture, and the depth of colour may change depending on season and health of the bird

FEET

footprint dimensions … this could be in comparison to something the bird stands by and you measure later, or footprints left in muddy areas that can be measured
leg or feet scarring … note in the middle photo below the scar on the heel of the foot – it was a nasty cut that has healed well leaving only a scar on the foot in the foreground

SKIRT

the difference between identifying a male and female cassowary is by the arrangement of their tail feathers. The females wear a straight mini skirt whilst the male has a bushy tail. The male incubates the eggs and the bushy tail helps to cover the eggs.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All photos on this and our other pages are copyright. KCons thanks the following people for their various contributions:

- Dianne Daniels
- Christina Sutter
- Christine Biddle
- Liz Gallie
- Clode family
- MBHNA Group
- Lorraine Harris (click to see more of Lorraine’s Cassowary photos)
- James Biggs whose excellent reference provides a wealth of information on both wild and captive cassowaries James Biggs – Cassowary Management paper

A lot of information is also being gathered in the following areas by various agencies:

CSIRO and KCons are involved in DNA analysis
QPWS/UQ are involved in satellite and radio tagging
KCons are active in placement of road crossing signs, action activated camera monitoring, collection of scats, and through input to our website – community sightings/scats/behaviour
Community – involvement with KCons activities

Cassowary Identification

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The future health of the Wet Tropics rainforests depends on the vital role of the cassowary. Please help us help the cassowaries. Thank you!