I'd be perplexed too, if I saw that bird. I'm not that experienced with either
species (no currawongs at all in Altona) but was under the impression that Grey
Currawongs aren't as bold as Pieds, and would fly away if you approached them
on the ground. Is that correct?
Regarding the suggestion that this is a young bird, do young Pieds not have any
white on the rump? If so then it's odd that none of the field guides mention
it, not P&K, Slater, S&D or Morcombe, anyway. Only P&K shows one, but with the
rump not visible. So I find it hard to believe this is the answer, especially
when it has adult eye colour.
S&D mentions "race nebulosa may be confused with Grey Currawong", but doesn't
say why.
Morcombe suggests that the area of white on the rump of nebulosa is "small",
reducing to "vestigial" in ashbyi. So I could believe there's some variation,
but there were two birds like this, so if that's the explanation then this
variation must be reasonably common, not something I've noticed.
Peter Shute
--------------------------
Sent using BlackBerry
|
