Grey Currawong

Today we went bird hunting at a new location in the Belair Park called Gate 7. It is a bit more remote and normally one sees nobody in this very steep area of the park. Having walked to the top of the ridge, and admired the wonderful view, I suggested to Paladian it was time to return as we had hardly seen a bird.

On the way back to the car, right at the bottom, I spotted this Grey Currawong, pulling bits of bark off trees. That suggested possible nest building, but most likely he was looking for bugs to eat. So I stood and waited to get my shots.

I ended up getting about 30 shots of him (or her) with 4 of the photos hard to choose between. As I was not using a long lens, I was truly lucky, both that the bird was large, and also it was not too shy. I went with this particular shot as it shows the grey underside and also the strong beak and yellow eye.

This is the first one to be blipped in BBY and again I am delighted to get a new bird for the BlipbigYear.

See more grey.

The Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor) is a large passerine bird native to southern Australia and Tasmania. One of three currawong species in the genus Strepera, it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian Magpie of the family Artamidae.

It is a large crow-like bird, around 48 cm (19 in) long on average, with bright yellow irises, and a heavy bill, and dark to grey plumage with white undertail and wing patches. The male and female are similar in appearance.

All Grey Currawongs have a loud distinctive ringing or clinking call.
Within its range, the Grey Currawong is generally sedentary, and spends more time foraging on the ground. For this reason it did not seem to take a lot of notice of me, even though it builds nests high up in the trees.

Sad to say it has adapted poorly to human impact and has declined in much of its range. The habitat includes all kinds of forested areas as well as native bushland such as that found in our park.