Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts is a call to arms to save our black cockatoos and their habitat.
Saving black cockatoos and our forests go hand in hand.Â
This book is a call to arms to save our black cockatoos and their habitats.
Education and a community commitment to meeting their needs is the key to the survival of our black cockatoos. Because our black cockatoos are not all the same.
Different cockatoos have different feeding needs and habits.
Red tailed Black Cockatoos and White Tailed Cockatoos have different feeding habits, and as a result, they need a variety of native vegetation to support them. Without conservation of their South West forests, and their feeding ranges on the sandy coastal plains of Western Australia, they will not survive.
In truth, we should not be seeing much of the Forest Red tailed black cockatoos in the metropolitan area – but they are driven here, looking for food. Unlike the inland Redtails, who have learned to eat double gees and provide a service for farmers, they have learned to eat cape lilac seeds. While it seems like a viable alternative for them, in the book we explore why it is not so.
This book is written for children, parents, and teachers. And for those who value our iconic Black Cockatoos.
Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts? is written for children, and their parents and teachers. It is full of fascinating information about native plants and seeds, and how essential they are as food sources for our iconic Western Australian wildlife.Â
With good explanations of how seeds come to be, and what black cockatoos like to eat, it’s a learning adventure about conservation and nature. Dazzling photographs highlight the text, and make it easy for children of all ages to follow the story.
About Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts?
 Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts? introduces children and parents to the world of seeds, plants and black cockatoos in a bright and breezy story, filled with full colour pictures and relevant information.
Recently released as a full colour, glossy book with superb photographs, by Stories My Nana Tells’ author, Lesley Dewar, it is getting rave reviews from parents and educators. It is an immersing adventure through the wonderful world of seeds and trees.
Written in clear, easy to understand prose, the story explores some of the seeds we most commonly find in our back garden and local bush land. In addition, it helps children learn about the biology of plants, through bright pictures and simple text.
This book is a MUST HAVE for parents and teachers.
This book is a MUST HAVE
for parents who want their kids to understand and love our Australian wildlife.
with its questions at the end and links to good websites, it’s perfect for parents who home school.
for teachers who need a high quality resource for class activities.
it’s especially relevant for those who want to know more about our amazing Black Cockatoos and their habitat.
Most of all, while it is educational, it is also fun to read. It will be a source of activities for children of all ages.
 It’s an exceptional story – read this review from one of our Mums:
Redtail black cockatoo on blackboy seed spike. Credit Marg Owen
Hi, I’m Kiera! I’m a home schooling mother of four little boys and we are always looking for creative ways to get more out of our “school days”.
I recently read “Dude, who moved my gum nuts” with my 6 year old. What a delightful story. Actually, it’s not really a story, more of an immersing adventure through the wonderful world of seeds and trees.
Written in clear, easy to understand prose, the story explores some of the seeds we most commonly found in our back garden. We were fascinated to learn more about “double gees” and how banksia nuts spread their seeds when they detect smoke!
It explained why we were being pummelled by our neighbour’s tree each time we had a barbecue.
I absolutely adore Stories My Nana tells, and have gone on to read more of their “adventures”.
Published in full colour, with magnificent photographs.
Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts? is published in full colour, with lots of magnificent photographs.
Available in print format as a hard cover book, printed on glossy art paper, and as a downloadable PDF with interactive links, every family can own this book.
Education and Conservation goes hand in hand with Rehabilitation, including financial support.
Your purchase of this book helps support the rehabilitation and release of black cockatoos, in our South West forests.
$AU5.00 from the sale of every copy of this book, “Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts?”  is donated to the #FeedSeedFund supporting black cockatoo rescue at 100% Blacks at Jamarri , near Nannup in the South West of WA.
This Black Cockatoo Rescue site is next to Helm’s Forest, near Nannup,  where a community campaign saved 250 hectares of old growth forest from logging. That campaign secured a lifetime site for the safe release of rescued black cockatoos – both red tails and white tails.
Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts? calls for conservation and protection for our black cockatoos.
 Without vibrant, healthy forests, our native birds and animals cannot thrive. Yet, the opposite is happening. This book is educational, on all fronts.
In the South West forests
In the South West, their shelter and feeding sources in the forests need protection from logging, and the practice of “thinning” Marri. It is done by the Forest Products Commission to create a monoculture of Jarrah. Â This is counter-productive for feeding our black cockatoos.
100 Marri gumnuts have the same nutritional value as 1000 Jarrah gumnuts, for a black cockatoo, and losing Marri gumnuts is critical for redtails. Â Now, our Redtail Forest black cockatoos are driven to eat “exotics” like the seeds of the Cape Lilac, in a desperate effort to avoid starvation.Â
On the coastal plain
Once, Banksia and other native plants were prolific, all along the coastal plain. They provided a healthy diet of flowers and seeds all year round, as different species flowered and went to seed, in turn. Â Yet, due to constant clearing of bushland, and no overall planning for conservation, our black cockatoos are being pushed closer and closer to extinction.
Community actions are critical in saving both black cockatoos and their habitat.
Forest activists saved over 200 hectares of old growth jarrah forest near Nannup from logging. Â (2012)
A moratorium on the logging of Helms forest was imposed until the assessment could be done. Nearly half the area which was about to be logged was found to be officially old growth forest. This forest should never have been on the logging list in the first place.
Friends of Underwood Avenue
After the Tingay surveys, The Friends of Underwood Avenue Bushland Inc (FUAB) was formed in 1998. It is to protect Underwood Avenue Bushland in Shenton Park from a housing development proposal put by the University of Western Australia (UWA).
Every time the UWA puts forward a proposal, the FUAB campaigns to keep the public aware of the vulnerability of our Black Cockatoos. Both Carnaby’s and Red Tails alike. They use their Facebook page to engage a strong community response, and ensure State and Federal Governments are compelled to endorse the EPBC Act.
While it seems all is lost, in fact, it is not. Indeed, the opposite can be true:
Forests for LifeÂ
Forests For Life have a vision, and a plan, and support Stories My Nana Tells’ in its education of children, parents, and the community at large. As we support them.
Local communities, wildlife, the timber industry, tourism, honey production, water quality, climate, cultural and recreational pursuits, to name but a few: ALL stand to benefit from the Forests for Life Plan. Because ALL rely on the forests for their health and survival. We endorse their plan, and strongly recommend it to you.
Forests for Life features our book Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts? on their website, in the section under Education and Research. It’s especially relevant in today’s call for better conservation and protection for our black cockatoos.
Education is the key – to saving our Black Cockatoos. The birds, and their habitat.
If we fail to protect the remnant bushland which contains food sources for our Carnaby’s, we will most certainly lose these beautiful birds.
They need the mature Jarrah, Marri, and Tuart trees which provide food, roosts, and nesting hollows in trees around 150 – 200 years old. If we do not protect our forests, we will most certainly lose these iconic birds.
Read about the two-edged sword of pine plantations, and how they can become the saviours of our Black Cockatoos.
