Anthony Alder was the most prominent taxidermist in colonial Queensland and was widely admired for his dioramas when he started working for the Queensland Museum in 1907. Alder was also regarded as one of the most important painters of birds in this state and produced sketches of Queensland's avian fauna, which were published in The Queenslander, the state's most important weekly newspaper from 1894 to 1900.

This painting depicts a pair of male and female red-tailed black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii), also known as Banksian or Banks' black cockatoos. The birds are native to Australia and found in eucalyptus woodlands or along water courses; this species has disappeared from much of its former habitat in northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland