The Red Tail Black cockatoos represent Spirit guides to the afterlife, but not as a harbinger of someone passing but more like a happy guide. I usually see the bird when someone from ‘country’ has passed. They are a very happy family bird and flock together in large groups. This image shows a storm background with cockatoos together over the lined area at the base representing country. The Red Tail Black cockatoo is a clan totem of many people in Far North Queensland. It is an endangered species bird also, so it is paramount we care for it and its breeding. The full red bars grow on the tail feathers after the second year of age for males. Until that point their tails also have yellow.