Currawong
Encyclopedia
Currawongs are three species of medium-sized passerine
birds belonging to the genus Strepera in the family Artamidae
native to Australasia
. These are the Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor), Pied Currawong
(S. graculina), and Black Currawong (S. fuliginosa). The common name comes from the call of the familiar Pied Currawong
of eastern Australia
and is onomatopoeic. They were formerly known as Crow-shrikes or Bell-magpies.
Despite their resemblance to crows and ravens, they are only distantly related to the corvidae
, instead belonging to an Afro-Asian radiation of birds of family Malaconotidae.
The true currawongs are a little larger than the Australian Magpie
, somewhat smaller than most raven
s, but broadly similar in appearance. They are easily distinguished by their yellow eyes, in contrast to the red eyes of a magpie and white eyes of Australian crows
and ravens. Currawongs are also characterised by the hooked tips of their long, sharply pointed beaks.
They are not as terrestrial as the Magpie and have shorter legs. They are omnivorous, foraging in foliage, on tree trunks and limbs, and on the ground, taking insects and larvae (often dug out from under the bark of trees), fruit, and the nestlings of other birds. They are distinguishable from magpies and crows by their comical flight style in amongst foliage, appearing to almost fall about from branch to branch as if they were inept flyers.
held the currawongs to be more closely related to crows and ravens than the Australian Magpie and butcherbirds, and duly placed them in the Corvidae
. A review by ornithologist John Albert Leach
of the family Cracticidae in 1914 where he had studied their musculature found that all three genera were closely related. Ornithologists Charles Sibley
and Jon Ahlquist
recognised the close relationship between the woodswallow
s and the butcherbirds and relatives in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade
, which later became the family Artamidae
. Within the family, currawongs belong to the subfamily Cracticinae, which also includes the Australian Magpie
and the butcherbird
: about 20 species in all.
The family Artamidae has its greatest diversity in Australia, which suggests the radiation of its insectivorous and scavenger members to occupy various niches took place there. The butcherbirds became predators of small animals much like the northern hemisphere shrike
s, while the Australian Magpie became a predominantly ground-hunting omnivore, and the currawongs hunt in living and fallen trees on the main, scavenging and hunting insects and small vertebrates and occupying the niche of many Eurasian corvids in Australia.
They are protected in Australia under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
birds belonging to the genus Strepera in the family Artamidae
Artamidae
The family Artamidae gathers together 20 species of mostly crow-like birds native to Australasia and nearby areas.There are two subfamilies: Artaminae, the woodswallows, are sombre-coloured, soft-plumaged birds that have a brush-tipped tongue but seldom use it for gathering nectar. Instead, they...
native to Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
. These are the Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor), Pied Currawong
Pied Currawong
The Pied Currawong is a medium-sized black passerine bird native to eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island. One of three currawong species in the genus Strepera, it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian Magpie of the family Artamidae. Six subspecies are recognised...
(S. graculina), and Black Currawong (S. fuliginosa). The common name comes from the call of the familiar Pied Currawong
Pied Currawong
The Pied Currawong is a medium-sized black passerine bird native to eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island. One of three currawong species in the genus Strepera, it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian Magpie of the family Artamidae. Six subspecies are recognised...
of eastern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and is onomatopoeic. They were formerly known as Crow-shrikes or Bell-magpies.
Despite their resemblance to crows and ravens, they are only distantly related to the corvidae
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
, instead belonging to an Afro-Asian radiation of birds of family Malaconotidae.
The true currawongs are a little larger than the Australian Magpie
Australian Magpie
The Australian Magpie is a medium-sized black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. A member of the Artamidae, it is closely related to the butcherbirds...
, somewhat smaller than most raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
s, but broadly similar in appearance. They are easily distinguished by their yellow eyes, in contrast to the red eyes of a magpie and white eyes of Australian crows
Torresian Crow
The Torresian Crow , also occasionally called the Australian Crow or Papuan Crow in those respective countries, is an Australasian member of the crow genus...
and ravens. Currawongs are also characterised by the hooked tips of their long, sharply pointed beaks.
They are not as terrestrial as the Magpie and have shorter legs. They are omnivorous, foraging in foliage, on tree trunks and limbs, and on the ground, taking insects and larvae (often dug out from under the bark of trees), fruit, and the nestlings of other birds. They are distinguishable from magpies and crows by their comical flight style in amongst foliage, appearing to almost fall about from branch to branch as if they were inept flyers.
Taxonomy and evolution
Ornithologist Richard Bowdler SharpeRichard Bowdler Sharpe
Richard Bowdler Sharpe was an English zoologist.-Biography:Sharpe was born in London and studied at Brighton College, The King's School, Peterborough and Loughborough Grammar School. At the age of sixteen he went to work for Smith & Sons in London...
held the currawongs to be more closely related to crows and ravens than the Australian Magpie and butcherbirds, and duly placed them in the Corvidae
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs and nutcrackers. The common English names used are corvids or the crow family , and there are over 120 species...
. A review by ornithologist John Albert Leach
John Albert Leach
Dr John Albert Leach was an ornithologist, teacher and headmaster in the state of Victoria, Australia.Leach was born in Ballarat, Victoria and educated at Creswick Grammar School , Melbourne Training College and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated B.Sc. in 1904, M.Sc...
of the family Cracticidae in 1914 where he had studied their musculature found that all three genera were closely related. Ornithologists Charles Sibley
Charles Sibley
Charles Gald Sibley was an American ornithologist and molecular biologist. He had an immense influence on the scientific classification of birds, and the work that Sibley initiated has substantially altered our understanding of the evolutionary history of modern birds.Sibley's taxonomy has been a...
and Jon Ahlquist
Jon Edward Ahlquist
Jon Edward Ahlquist is an American molecular biologist and ornithologist who has specialized in molecular phylogenetics. He has collaborated extensively with Charles Sibley, primarily at Yale University.By 1987, both Ahlquist and Sibley had left Yale....
recognised the close relationship between the woodswallow
Woodswallow
Woodswallows are soft-plumaged, somber-coloured passerine birds. There is a single genus, Artamus, The woodswallows are either treated as a subfamily, Artaminae in an expanded family Artamidae, which includes the butcherbirds and Australian Magpie, or as the only genus in that family...
s and the butcherbirds and relatives in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
, which later became the family Artamidae
Artamidae
The family Artamidae gathers together 20 species of mostly crow-like birds native to Australasia and nearby areas.There are two subfamilies: Artaminae, the woodswallows, are sombre-coloured, soft-plumaged birds that have a brush-tipped tongue but seldom use it for gathering nectar. Instead, they...
. Within the family, currawongs belong to the subfamily Cracticinae, which also includes the Australian Magpie
Australian Magpie
The Australian Magpie is a medium-sized black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. A member of the Artamidae, it is closely related to the butcherbirds...
and the butcherbird
Butcherbird
Butcherbirds are magpie-like birds in the genus Cracticus. They are native to Australasia. Their closest relatives are the three species of currawong...
: about 20 species in all.
The family Artamidae has its greatest diversity in Australia, which suggests the radiation of its insectivorous and scavenger members to occupy various niches took place there. The butcherbirds became predators of small animals much like the northern hemisphere shrike
Shrike
Shrikes are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of thirty-one species in three genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes were also known as "butcher birds" because of their feeding habits...
s, while the Australian Magpie became a predominantly ground-hunting omnivore, and the currawongs hunt in living and fallen trees on the main, scavenging and hunting insects and small vertebrates and occupying the niche of many Eurasian corvids in Australia.
They are protected in Australia under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.
Species and races
Although there are several distinct forms, the number of species has varied between two and seven, with three currently recognised. Several subspecies of the Grey Currawong are fairly distinctive and described on that species page.- S. fuliginosa - Black Jay or Black Currawong
- S. fuliginosa colei - King Island Black Currawong
- S. fuliginosa parvior - Flinders Island Black Currawong
- S. graculina - Pied Currawong
- S. graculina graculina
- S. graculina ashbyi - Western Victorian Pied Currawong
- S. graculina crissalis - Lord Howe CurrawongLord Howe CurrawongThe Lord Howe Currawong , Lord Howe Island Currawong or Lord Howe Pied Currawong, is a large and mainly black passerine bird in the Artamidae family...
- S. graculina magnirostris
- S. graculina robinsoni
- S. graculina nebulosa
- S. versicolor a complex, including:
- S. versicolor versicolor - Grey Currawong
- S. versicolor intermedia - Brown Currawong
- S. versicolor plumbea - Grey Currawong (WA)
- S. versicolor halmaturina - Grey Currawong (Kangaroo Island)
- S. versicolor arguta - Clinking Currawong or Black Magpie
- S. versicolor melanoptera - Black-winged Currawong
Description
The three currawong species are sombre-plumaged dark grey or black birds with large bills. They resemble crows and ravens, although are slimmer in build with longer tails and booted tarsi. Their flight is undulating. Male birds have longer bills than females, the reason for which is unknown but suggests differentiation in feeding technique.Behaviour
The female builds the nest and incubates the young alone, although both parents feed them. The nests are somewhat flimsy for birds their size.External links
- Currawong videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Sound and flight of the currawong - an artwork in a book format created by Wim de Vos and held by the Australian Library of Art, State Library of Queensland
- Birds In Backyards - Grey Currawong
- Birds In Backyards - Pied Currawong
- Birds In Backyards - Birds Behaving Badly - Pied Currawong Site on pest status of Pied Currawong