Passeriformes
Black & white Australians Order: Passeriformes Families: Artamidae & Corvidae
Pied Butcherbird ( Cracticus nigrogularis )
the FACTS!
THE NAME BUTCHERBIRD refers to this bird’s habit of leaving freshly killed prey wedged in a tree fork in the same way a butcher might let meat hang from a hook. IN THE 1980S, DNA testing and studies of skull shape proved that woodswallows belonged to the same family ( Artamidae ) as currawongs, butcherbirds and the Australian Magpie. RAVENS have a very good sense of smell and can sniff out a rotten carcass from quite a distance. DESPITE THE CLEVERNESS of crows and ravens ( or perhaps because of it! ) throughout the ages, they have come to be associated with a darker underworld. In the Middle Ages, people thought they were grave robbers! Even the group nouns used to describe a gathering of some of these species, such as a “murder of crows”, a “conspiracy of ravens” and a “tiding of magpies” imply that these birds are somehow sinister.
Magpies and butcherbirds are familiar black and white birds in the family Artamidae. These wonderful singers are regularly seen and heard in backyards around the country. Although their raucous cawing is much less welcome in backyards, corvids, which include the jet-black crows, ravens and currawongs, can take comfort in being some of the world’s smartest bird species.
EYE SPY Although corvids are frequent visitors to parklands and backyards, many species are easily mistaken for another member of the same family. Crows and ravens, especially, are all big glossy black birds that resemble each other closely — only a few telltale factors ( such as range and call ) determine one species from the other. Adult crows and ravens both have silverwhite eyes, but ravens have a ruffle of A ruffle of feathers under the chin distinguishes feathers under the neck. Currawongs are the Australian Raven from other corvids. easily identified by their yellow eyes and patches of white plumage. Magpies and butcherbirds can be distinguished by their eye colour — butcherbirds have brown eyes, whereas magpies have red eyes.
SOMETHING TO CROW OVER Crows, ravens, magpies and the other approximately 120 members of the Corvidae family are some of the brainiest birds in the world. These curious, clever birds have even been observed using tools to help them obtain food. Although they are not predatory birds but voracious scavengers, Australian Ravens ( Corvus coronoides ) have been seen working together to separate a weak lamb from a flock, pecking at its tail until it falls over and is mobbed by its hungry attackers.
BRIGHT-EYED NEST ROBBERS Three currawong species, which take their name from the Pied Currawong’s ( below ) “carrow, carrow-carrwonk” call, are endemic. Currawongs are characterised by long, sharply pointed beaks with hooked tips , intense yellow eyes and gleaming ebony feathers, although the Grey Currawong ( Strepera versicolor ) can be much paler. They eat just about anything, including fruit, insects, whatever they can scavenge from human garbage cans, and other birds’ eggs and nestlings. Currawongs have probably led to the decline of smaller bird species in some regions as their own numbers have increased.
Text: Karin Cox. Uncredited photography: Steve Parish