Pied currawong

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Pied currawong
blackish crow-like bird looking left over its shoulder on a gum tree branch
Nominate subspecies graculina, Blue Mountains

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Artamidae
Genus: Strepera
Species:
S. graculina
Binomial name
Strepera graculina
(Shaw, 1790)
Subspecies

6 subspecies, see text

map of Australia showing greened out area in east of the country
Pied currawong range
Synonyms

Corvus graculinus G. Shaw, 1790[2]
Coracias strepera Latham, 1790[3]
Gracula strepera G. Shaw, 1809[4]
Barita strepera Temminck[5]
Corvus (Strepera) sp. Lesson, 1831[6]
Cracticus streperus Vieillot, 1834[7]
Coronica strepera Gould, 1837[8]
Strepera graculina Gray, 1840[9]

The pied currawong (Strepera graculina) is a black

indigenous
origin.

Within its range, the pied currawong is generally sedentary, although populations at higher altitudes relocate to lower areas during the cooler months. It is omnivorous, with a diet that includes a wide variety of berries and seeds, invertebrates, bird eggs, juvenile birds and young marsupials. It is a predator which has adapted well to urbanization and can be found in parks and gardens as well as rural woodland. The habitat includes every kind of forested area, although mature forests are preferred for breeding. Roosting, nesting and the bulk of foraging take place in trees, in contrast with the ground-foraging behaviour of its relative, the Australian magpie.

Taxonomy

The pied currawong's binomial names were derived from the Latin strepera, meaning "noisy", and graculina for resembling a jackdaw.[10] It was first described by English ornithologist George Shaw in John White's 1790 book, Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, as the "white-vented crow", with Latin name Corvus graculinus.[2] Also published in 1790, John Latham introduced the name Coracias strepera, classifying it with the rollers.[3] The specific epithet strepera (or its masculine form, streperus) was used by several subsequent authors including Leach, Vieillot, Shaw, Temminck, and Gould, in genera Corvus (crows), Cracticus,[7] Gracula (grackles),[4] Barita,[5] and Coronica.[11]

Strepera as a sub-genus of crows in 1831.[6] John Gould described a second species, the black currawong of Tasmania, in 1836,[12] and the next year created genus Coronica for both species.[8] George Robert Gray adopted Lesson's name Strepera at the genus level and introduced the combination Strepera graculina in 1840.[9][13]

Pied crow-shrike is an old vernacular name from colonial days,

Tharawal people of the Illawarra region.[17] French ornithologists such as Daudin, Lesson, and Vieillot called it the réveilleur,[11][18][6][7]
meaning 'alarm clock' or 'wake-up caller'.

Its closest relative is the

Jon Ahlquist recognised the close relationship between woodswallows and butcherbirds in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade,[22] which became the family Artamidae.[20]

Subspecies

Six subspecies are currently recognised, characterised principally by differences in size and plumage. There is a steady change to the birds' morphology and size the further south they are encountered, with lighter and more greyish plumage, larger body size, and a shorter bill. Southerly populations also show more white plumage in the tail, with less whiteness on the wing.[19]

  • Strepera graculina graculina is the nominate form, found from the Sydney region north to the Burdekin River in northern Queensland.
  • Strepera graculina ashbyi, (critically endangered),[23] the western Victorian pied currawong, was described by Australian amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews in 1913.[24] It is threatened by hybridization with the neighbouring subspecies nebulosa whose range is expanding westwards.[25] A 2000 estimate placed the number of breeding birds at around 250. It resembles subspecies nebulosa, with sooty plumage, a long tail and a short bill.[26] There is some doubt over whether ashbyi, which is little known, is a distinct subspecies or a colour morph of nebulosa. It is thought to have evolved after the two populations became separated by basalt plains in western Victoria, with the return of trees after the abandonment of regular Aboriginal burning in the late 18th century contributing to the remixing of populations. Hybrid forms have been identified in the Grampians and Yarra Valley.[23] Further investigation in 2017 by Peter Menkhorst and Craig Morley established that the type specimen was an immature bird and that its collection point and characteristics placed it within subspecies nebulosa. They also observed there is a population that is abundant (rather than endangered) in the Otway Ranges that has a smaller speculum (wingpatch) than nebulosa and that Mathews had mistaken this for a subspecies of grey currawong, naming it Neostrepera versicolor riordani.[27] They proposed renaming S. g. nebulosa to S. g. ashbyi and the other population as S. g. riordani.[28]
  • Strepera graculina crissalis, (vulnerable)[29] the Lord Howe currawong was described by English naturalist Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1877.[30] It appears to have adapted well to human habitation on Lord Howe Island, though the population is small overall, somewhere around 70–80 birds.[31] Although regarded as a subspecies, it has yet to be studied with molecular DNA techniques, which may lead to it being reclassified as a separate species.[32]
Swifts Creek, Victoria
  • Strepera graculina magnirostris is found on the Cape York Peninsula to the Normanby River in northern Queensland. First described by Henry Lake White in 1923,[33] it has a longer and heavier bill and shorter tail than the nominate subspecies. It has been little studied to date.[26]
  • Strepera graculina robinsoni is found on the Atherton Tableland in northeastern Queensland. First described by Gregory Mathews in 1912,[34] it is combined with magnirostris by some authors. Little researched, it appears to be smaller than other subspecies.[26]
  • Strepera graculina nebulosa, found in southeastern New South Wales, the
    Blue Mountains.[26]

Description

a black crow-like bird perched in a palm forest
Lord Howe Island subspecies crissalis

The pied currawong is generally a black bird with white in the wing, undertail

gape is a prominent yellow.[15] Older birds grow darker until adult plumage is achieved, but juvenile tail markings only change to adult late in development.[15] Birds appear to moult once a year in late summer after breeding.[15] The pied currawong can live for over 20 years in the wild.[37]

Voice

Song
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Pied currawongs are vocal birds, calling when in flight and at all times of the day. They are noisier early in the morning and in the evening before roosting, as well as before rain.[38] The loud distinctive call has been translated as Kadow-Kadang or Curra-wong, akin to a croak. They also have a loud, high-pitched, wolf-like whistle, transcribed as Wheeo.[39] The endemic Lord Howe Island subspecies has a distinct, more melodious call.

Similar species

The smaller white-winged chough has similar plumage but has red eyes and is found mainly on the ground. Australian crow and raven species have white eyes and lack the white rump, and the similar-sized Australian magpie has red eyes and prominent black and white plumage.[38] The larger grey currawong is readily distinguished by its lighter grey overall plumage and lack of white feathers at the base of the tail.[40] In northwestern Victoria, the black-winged currawong (subspecies melanoptera of the grey) does have a darker plumage than other grey subspecies, but its wings lack the white primaries of the pied currawong.[38]

Distribution and habitat

Pied currawong taking care of its chicks

The pied currawong is common in both wet and dry

South West Slopes regions in New South Wales, all showing an increase in population. This increase has been most marked, however, in Sydney and Canberra since the 1940s and 1960s, respectively. In both cities, the species had previously been a winter resident only, but now remains year-round and breeds there.[25] They are a dominant species and common inhabitant of Sydney gardens.[41]

In general, the pied currawong is sedentary, although some populations from higher altitudes move to areas of lower elevation in winter.[38] However, evidence for the extent of migration is conflicting, and the species' movements have been little studied to date.[42] More recently still, a survey of the population of pied currawongs in southeastern Queensland between 1980 and 2000 had found the species had become more numerous there, including suburban Brisbane.[43] One 1992 survey reported the total number of pied currawongs in Australia had doubled from three million birds in the 1960s to six million in the early 1990s.[25]

The pied currawong is able to cross bodies of water of some size, as it has been recorded from

Heron Islands
in the Capricorn Group on the Great Barrier Reef.[44][45] The presence of the Lord Howe subspecies is possibly the result of a chance landing there.[32]

The pied currawong's impact on smaller birds that are vulnerable to nest predation is controversial: several studies have suggested that the species has become a serious problem, but the truth of this widely held perception was queried in a 2001 review of the published literature on their foraging habits by Bayly and Blumstein of Macquarie University, who observed that common introduced birds were more affected than native birds.[46] However, predation by pied currawongs has been a factor in the decline of Gould's petrel at a colony on Cabbage Tree Island, near Port Stephens in New South Wales; currawongs have been reported preying on adult seabirds. Their removal from the islands halted a decline of the threatened petrels.[47] Furthermore, a University of New England study published in 2006 reported that the breeding success rates for the eastern yellow robin (Eopsaltria australis) and scarlet robin (Petroica boodang) on the New England Tablelands were improved after nests were protected and currawongs culled, and some yellow robins even re-colonised an area where they had become locally extinct.[48] The presence of pied currawongs in Sydney gardens is negatively correlated with the presence of silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis).[41]

The species has been implicated in the spread of weeds by consuming and dispersing fruit and seed.[49] In the first half of the twentieth century, pied currawongs were shot as they were considered pests of corn and strawberry crops, as well as assisting in the spread of the prickly pear. They were also shot on Lord Howe Island for attacking chickens. However, they are seen as beneficial in forestry as they consume phasmids, and also in agriculture for eating cocoons of the codling moth.[15]

Behaviour

opportunistic — picnic time, Carnarvon Gorge

Pied currawongs are generally tree-dwelling, hunting and foraging some metres above the ground, and thus able to share territory with the ground-foraging Australian magpie. Birds roost in forested areas or large trees at night, disperse to forage in the early morning and return in the late afternoon.[50] Although often solitary or encountered in small groups, the species may form larger flocks of fifty or more birds in autumn and winter. On the ground, a pied currawong hops or struts.[38]

During the breeding season, pied currawongs will pair up and become territorial, defending both nesting and feeding areas. A 1994 study in Sydney's leafy northern suburbs measured an average distance of 250 m (820 ft) between nests,

threat display against other currawongs by lowering the head so the head and body are parallel to the ground and pointing the beak out forward, often directly at the intruder.[53] The male predominates in threat displays and territorial defence, and guards the female closely as she builds the nest.[54]

Flocks of birds appear to engage in play; one routine involves a bird perching atop a tall tree, pole or spire, and others swooping, tumbling or diving and attempting to dislodge it. A successful challenger is then challenged in its turn by other birds in the flock.[50]

The pied currawong bathes by wading into water up to 15 cm (5.9 in) deep, squatting down, ducking its head under, and shaking its wings. It preens its plumage afterwards, sometimes applying mud or soil first. The species has also been observed

anting.[54]

Breeding

a black crow-like bird feeds a huge pale grey nestling, much larger than the adult bird.
Pied currawong feeding channel-billed cuckoo juvenile

Although found in many types of woodland, the pied currawong prefers to breed in mature forests.

nidicolous) They quickly grow a layer of ashy-grey down. Both parents feed the young, although the male does not begin to feed them directly until a few days after birth.[56]

The channel-billed cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) parasitizes pied currawong nests, laying eggs which are then raised by the unsuspecting foster parents.[57] The eggs closely resemble those of the currawong hosts. Pied currawongs have been known to desert nests once cuckoos have visited, abandoning the existing currawong young, which die,[51] and a channel-billed cuckoo has been recorded decapitating a currawong nestling.[53] The brown goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus) and lace monitor (Varanus varius) have also been recorded taking nestlings.[58]

Feeding

Regurgitated pellets of pied currawong.

The pied currawong is an omnivorous and opportunistic feeder, eating fruit and berries as well as preying on many invertebrates, and smaller vertebrates, mostly juvenile birds and bird eggs, although they may take healthy adult birds up to the size of a

Armidale.[49]

Birds forage singly or in pairs in summer, and more often in larger flocks in autumn and winter, during which time they are more likely to loiter around people and urban areas.[59] They occasionally associate with Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) or common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) when foraging.[60] Birds have also been encountered with grey currawongs (S. versicolor) and satin bowerbirds (Ptilinorhynchus violaceus).[38] The species has been reported stealing food from other birds such as the Australian hobby (Falco longipennis),[63] collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus), and sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita).[64] Pied currawongs will also harass each other.[49] A 2007 study conducted by researchers from the Australian National University showed that white-browed scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) nestlings became silent when they heard the recorded sound of a pied currawong walking through leaf litter.[65]

Conservation status

The range size criterion does not apply to this species because it has such a large range. As a result, it does not approach the

least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.[1]

References

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Cited texts

External links

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