Jack - “At least 10 very noisy birds flying around” would be standard for a Winter day here. I would have had about a dozen Winterers here, varying according to the area of ‘here’. These are distinguishable from the resident pair, which are larger and behave differently. The presumed younger birds arrive as parts of larger flocks that appear in Spring, which are VERY noisy (many “currawongs, currawongs forever”). At such times I have had 70 birds in the street, presumably on their way to dispersing through the suburbs. Perhaps your chaps are the beginning of a corresponding pre-departure assembling. Incidentally, I have only heard a couple of “what no beers” in recent weeks, probably the territorial calls of the resident birds.
From: Jack & Andrea Holland [
Sent: Tuesday, 31 July 2012 8:30 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Pied Currawong behaviour
has changed very much over the past couple of days in NW Chapman and over into Rivett.
After being relatively currawong free for the winter there’s suddenly at least 10 very noisy birds flying around pretty aimlessly. Most noticeable is that they have started before 6 am for the past 2 mornings, with also some calling heard during the night.
It’s not the whining call I associate with flocks milling around trees, but the call they more often give in flight.
Has there been similar behaviour in other suburbs? Does anyone have a theory about why they might suddenly be behaving like this?
