Currawongs vs Magpies
At a recent family gathering where physical distancing was strictly enforced, my dear Uncle pointed out that in my blog post about the Victorian Fortifications at Middle Head, I had made a mistake. I had incorrectly identified magpies as currawongs.
This is a grave error and my family of amateur but deadly serious twitchers were somewhat disturbed by my rookie faux pas. There was a great deal of comment about my journalistic credentials and accusations of “fake news”.
I, therefore, apologise most humbly for my error and all future posts which include the identification of native Australian birds will be subject to strict quality checking by the newly established Family Ornithological Committee.
I’d like to thank my most esteemed Uncle for not calling me out publicly and highlighting my error in the comments section.
🙂
These are magpies, not currawongs.
Check out the cheeky magpies at this site
This video from the Magpie Whisperer.
Magpies have a lighter coloured beak and extensive white markings. There are significant regional differences between magpies. Juveniles are grey. They should also not be confused with pee-wees which are much smaller. Currawongs, on the other hand, have a black beak and only a small amount of white on their under-tail area. I don’t have a photo of a currawong or pee-wees to share.
The second video is hilarious – such fun loving birds!! I have countless magpies living in a tree in my garden – throughout the day there are countless magpie congregations (often more than ten at a time) squawking at high volume, fluttering all around the place – lively neighbours! 😊
Yes magpies are good fun! Althouhg here in Australia they swoop in spring time while defendig their nests. You have to watch out for that! Although they recognise faces and if you don’t seem like a threat they leave you alone.
Ha ha, I haven’t experienced their wrath directly but I’ve seen the way they defend their area against other birds – they can be quite aggressive – bless em’ 🙂 🌳