Grey Currawong
Grey Currawong
45-50 cm. Male larger. Furtive large grey bird with robust bill, shaded black around the bright yellow eye; white patch at base of primaries, visible in flight; white tips to primaries; prominent white undertail-coverts and white tips to tail, but no white at base of tail. Flies with flat silhouette, pulsing wingbeats. Immature: duller, browner; gape yellow; eye dark. Mostly, the white markings remain constant, but in w. Vic.-se. SA-sw. NSW, race melanoptera ('Black-winged Currawong') can be black, with white in wings reduced or absent. Birds on Yorke Pen.-Eyre Pen.-nw. SA-sw. NT-s. WA browner. Largest, darkest race is arguta ('Clinking Currawong') of Tas. Singles, pairs, family parties: loose autumn/winter flocks in parts. Forages noisily in loose bark; raids nests/eggs; steals food; small birds; eats phasmids, etc., in foliage.
- Other name
- Black-winged, Brown or Clinking Currawong; Squeaker.
- Similar Species
- Pied Currawong: in e. Aust., has conspicuous white base to tail feathers, visible in flight. In w. Vic., this marking, and white in wings, is often much-reduced, causing confusion with dark race melanoptera of Grey Currawong, especially those with short, new white-tipped feathers in tail. Take care, listen to calls.
- Voice
- ringing 'chling chling' or 'chding, chding'; ringing 'cree'. Conversational notes like mewing cats, toy trumpets. In Tas., race arguta calls 'keer-keer-kink', or 'klink, klank', like striking anvil.
- Habitat
- forests/woodlands; mallee, coastal scrubs, heaths, roadside timber; orchards, suburban areas.
- Breeding
- Aug.-Dec.
- Nest
- large, shallow, of sticks; lined with rootlets, grass; 3-20 m on horizontal fork.
- Eggs
- 2-3 (4); light-brown to reddish buff; spotted, blotched red-brown, lilac-grey.
- Range & Status
- s. Aust., n. and e. Tas.: all Vic; in NSW, ranges n. to Blue Mts, exceptionally to Hunter Valley, inland to c. Willandra NP; in SA, widespread n. to s. Flinders Ras.-Gawler Ras.-Nullarbor Plain, w. to s. WA, n. to Laverton-Wiluna-Shark Bay. Common to uncommon. Sedentary, seasonally nomadic. (Little-known, far-inland population from Everard-Musgrave Ras. (nw. SA), n. to Victory Downs-Mt Olga-Petermann Ras. (NT), w. to Warburton Ras. (WA).)
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Strepera versicolor versicolor 2. Strepera versicolor arguta 3. Strepera versicolor melanoptera 4. Strepera versicolor halmaturina 5. Strepera versicolor intermedia 6. Strepera versicolor plumbea
