Currawong

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Currawongs

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Artamidae
Genus:	Strepera

Species

Stepera graculina
Stepera versicolor
Stepera fuliginosa

Currawongs are medium-sized passerine birds of the family Artamidae native to Australasia. There are either three or four species (depending on whether the Australian Magpie is counted as a currawong or not). The common name comes from the call of the familiar Pied Currawong of eastern Australia and is onomatopoeic. An older name was Crow-shrike, though this is not used currently.

The true currawongs are a little larger than the Australian Magpie, somewhat smaller than most ravens, but broadly similar in appearance. They are easily distignuished by their yellow eyes, in contrast to the red eyes of a magpie and white eyes of Australian crows and ravens. 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.

It is sometimes said, with at least some justice, that the home gardener can have either currawongs or small birds, but not both—although part of this perception can be traced to the failure of many gardeners to provide a sufficient number of dense, thorny shrubs as refuges.

[edit] Classification

Currawongs belong to the subfamily Cracticinae, which also includes the Australian Magpie and the butcherbird: about 20 species in all. Together with the woodswallows (subfamily Artaminae), they make up the family Artamidae, which, in turn, is allied to the crows and jays, fantails, drongos, and many others. They are protected in Australia under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1974.

[edit] 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 Island Currawong
- 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