White-breasted Woodswallow.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
White-breasted Woodswallow at tree hollow.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
White-breasted Woodswallows nesting in abandoned Magpie-lark nest.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Distribution map of Artamus leucorynchus
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
White-breasted Woodswallow
Scientific name: Artamus leucorynchus
Family: Artamidae
Order: Passeriformes
What does it look like?
Description
The White-breasted Woodswallow is a medium-sized bird with a dark grey head and neck. It has dark blue-grey upperparts, tail and wings, white white underparts and underwings. The bill is bluish, tipped black and the eye is dark brown. Young birds tend to be mottled brown on the upperparts with a creamy tinge to the white undeparts and have a thin cream eyebrow. This species can be seen in flocks of 10 to 50, even up to 100, birds. These flocks may cluster together day or night in roosts.
Similar species
The White-breasted Woodswallow is the only one of the woodswallows with no white in its tail. Its distinctive 'hood' and white breast also help to distinguish it.
Where does it live?
Distribution
The White-breasted Woodswallow is found from northern coastal Western Australia, across the Kimberley region into the Northern Territory, and through most of Queensland, New South Wales (but not on the south coast), western Victoria and north-eastern South Australia. It is also found from New Guinea to Fiji and the Philippines.
Habitat
The White-breasted Woodswallow is found in eucalypt forests and woodlands, usually close to water, and in mangroves.
Seasonal movements
Nomadic; partially migratory in the south of its range, moving north during autumn and south during spring.
What does it do?
Feeding
The White-breasted Woodswallow feeds on insects, catching them on the wing. Will also forage on the ground or in canopy. Like other woodswallows, this species has a divided, brush-tipped tongue that can be used to feed on nectar from flowers.
Breeding
The White-breasted Woodswallow builds a shallow, bowl-shaped nest from grasses, roots and twigs, lined with fine grass. The nest is placed in a tree fork, hollow stump or inside the abandoned nest of a Magpie-lark, 4 m - 30 m off the ground. Both sexes build the nest, incubate the eggs and feed the young.
References
Strahan, R. (ed) 1996. Finches, Bowerbirds and Other Passerines of Australia. Angus and Robertson and the National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife, Sydney.
Simpson, K and Day, N. 1999. Field guide to the birds of Australia, 6th Edition. Penguin Books, Australia.