Writing and Editing Services
  Rosebud Communications
  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
    • Clients
  • Rose's Red Pen Blog
  • A Rose in Oz Blog
  • Photos Down Under
  • Contact

Currawongs

5/1/2020

6 Comments

 
Picture
Large, mostly black birds with bright yellow eyes, currawongs aren’t showy like Australian parrots, and they don’t have the swaggering personality of magpies (although they are often mistaken for them). Someone I read called currawongs the foxes of the bird world. I’d agree—particularly when I’m staring into those watchful, wily eyes. Like foxes, they have adapted well to humans and are persistent predators.
​
The bird’s name comes from its call, which sounds like “curra-wong, curra-wong.” Although Australia has several types of currawongs, I’m focusing on the pied currawong, since it’s the one that lives near me. The pied currawong is black, with white under the tail and near the tips of its wings. It has a large black bill, with dark grey legs. The males and females look alike, but the juveniles are greyer and fluffier.
Picture
Pied currawongs eat almost anything—small birds, young birds, lizards, young possums, insects, berries—even roadkill. They sometimes store their prey in a makeshift larder to eat later, hanging it on a hook or storing it in a crevice or tree fork.

Both males and females gather sticks and grasses for their nest, but the female builds it in a high tree fork. The male feeds the female while she incubates the eggs and feeds the chicks after they hatch.

Currawongs are not popular birds. My next-door neighbor, for example, loathes them because they can decimate the population of smaller birds. Poet Judith Wright characterized a currawong couple as a gangster and a moll.
​
However, they are voracious eaters of harmful insects and clean up carrion as well. Like magpies, currawongs are playful. This currawong comes by my office window nearly every day to play peekaboo.
Magpies and currawongs have a long history of working together. One story from the indigenous peoples of Australia says that currawongs ended a drought by flying to find a Cloud Spirit to make some rain. They brought one back, led home by the magpie’s song.

Sometimes they even sing together. 
​
Although currawongs may have a terrible reputation, they are still welcome visitors to my backyard.
6 Comments
Diane
5/3/2020 04:58:16 am

Would they eat their own kind? Would they eat their own offspring?

Reply
Rose
5/3/2020 06:59:33 pm

I don't think they do, based on what I've read about them so far. Thanks as always for reading and commenting!

Reply
Bob
5/3/2020 12:48:03 pm

Thanks for sharing, I have several bird houses in my backyard and have constant activity with bluebirds. It is marvelous to watch their constant activity and how their babies are born and after they leave another bluebird builds its nest on top of the previous nest. Any bird that comes near the nest is attacked immediately to protect the eggs/babies. No matter the size of the intruder.

Reply
Rose
5/3/2020 07:02:05 pm

I love bluebirds, but I have never lived around them. They look like they have such personality! Do the bluebirds team up to defend the nest, or is it mostly just the parent birds? Here about four to six magpies will share a territory, and they will all unite to drive away any other birds they perceive as threats. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Reply
Bob
5/3/2020 07:33:20 pm

The mom and dad are fierce defenders of the nest chasing crows and other birds who want to harm their young. It is just fascinating to watch.

Rose
5/3/2020 09:00:39 pm

I would love to see that! I bet those parent birds are something as they drive off the bigger birds. Thanks for sharing that with me!




Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Rose Ciccarelli is an American writer and editor living in Canberra, Australia.

    Archives

    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018

    Categories

    All
    Daily Life
    Events
    History
    Holidays
    Nature
    People
    Places

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.