Yes, it's a confusing pile of vernacular names isn't it and there , so far,
appears to be no clear path between those names and the Piping Shrike
emblem.
It would appear that at some stage the authorities of the day decided to
establish a state emblem - who they were and at what time this was is
immaterial to the present discussion, the ever present question is and
always has been just what bird the emblem was meant to represent. Because of
large population of magpies it's quite likely that this bird was considered
a suitable icon for the state of SA . Whether someone used a commissioned
artist to produce a stylised picture of the bird or had a stab at it
themselves, either from a dead specimen or from memory, the result in
today's terms was not too accurate.
The frontrunner suggestion has to be the Magpie with poor runners up being a
Butcherbird or Magpie Lark but no-one has been able to give a definitive
answer and I doubt they will. Interesting, but on the hand, does it really
matter?
Maybe we should change to the good old Pommie Sparrow, we have plenty of
those. TIC.
Tony.
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
John Walter
Sent: Saturday, 15 August 2015 8:01 PM
To:
Subject: Piping Shrike
Piping up as a slight side issue to the Piping Shrike saga I have a mild
interest in vernacular names of birds.
I can find no reference in the literature to Piping-Shrike other than
Wikipedia and other associated Google articles to do with the SA flag.
However I can find references to Piping Crow-Shrike as a vernacular name for
Black-backed Magpie. White-backed Magpie is listed as Piper, or White-backed
Crow-Shrike. Other Crow-Shrikes are Pied (Pied Currawong), Sooty (Black
Currawong), Black-
winged, Grey, Brown & Leaden (Grey Currawong), , Hill (Clinking Currawong),
Black-throated (Pied Butcherbird), Collared (Grey Butcherbird) .
Cheers John
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