Hi Bruce and all,
I went to the same patch in Cook on Monday where I earlier
photographed the 'uniform-rumped' Currawong. Did not see any Pied
Currawong with such feature. But I saw one with 'dotted line' of white
spots along base of tail. Another one with 2 white patches of white at
the sides of the base of tail. At least 2 others with typical white
crescent at base of tail. If it is both Frank and Bruce's suggestion
that this is some transitional plumage for subadult, then perhaps one
of them was the bird that I saw earlier but it has now
grown abit of white on its base of tail.
I have seen a photo of Dark form Grey Currawong from Handbooks of
Birds of the World (out of range from Canberra), where this dark form
does look very similar to the typical Pied Currawong, and the bill of
this dark form of GC is slightly thicker, hence make it even closer to
PC.
Hope this generates some interests in otherwise very common and dull
looking backyard bird. If the feature of 'uniform-rumped' in Pied
Currawong has been documented anywhere, please let me know. Thank you.
Regards,
Tun Pin ONG
On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 6:19 PM, Bruce Ramsay <> wrote:
> The other day Ong Tun Pin wrote in regarding the absence of white at
> the upper tail base (considered in Field Guides to be indicative of
> Grey Currawong) of a presumed Pied Currawong that he had seen and
> photographed in Canberra recently.
>
> Frank Antram replied on this chat line (others may have responded to
> Tun Pin privately - I don't know) that he felt the bird was probably
> an immature Pied Currawong and not a Grey Currawong. And not an
> aberrant form or a bird suffering from feather disease.
>
> I would just like to confirm Frank's intuition ?(maybe personal
> observation?) with a direct observation. I have just had a young Pied
> Currawong in the bird bath in our back garden here in Gordon. I am
> confident that it is a Pied because it has been fed (and is still
> begging vociferously) by adult Pied Currawongs. It seems certain it is
> their offspring. I was unable to get a photo but clearly saw the
> bird's back. It too has no white at the upper tail base.
>
> I don't know if this is a feature of ALL juvenile/immature Pied
> Currawongs (I suspect not). And I don't have access to a HANZAB so I'm
> not able to check there to see if it notes this feature and how
> widespread it may be.
>
> But it now seems certain that SOME juvenile Pied Currawongs in
> Canberra (the bird Tun Pin photographed and the one I have just
> observed here, at the very least) do not show any white at the upper
> tail base.
>
> Hope this is of some interest.
>
> Regards,
> Bruce
>
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