We are privileged to have several zillion bird friends visit us daily for food and water. We have a family of what I think are magpie larks--except that they don't seem to fit the id given on this site. Both parents have a full white underbelly and a black bib. Their beaks appear to be straight.
Anyone out there familiar with the breed?
Could they be small magpies rather than maggie-larks?
Thanks,
Allen
pied butcherbirds maybe?
Ed Townsville NQ
Thanks for the reply. I thought about pied butcherbirds, but the feeding habits seem wrong for that breed.
They are magpie larks. I found a copy of the Readers' Digest complete book of Australian birds and the section on magpie larks gave me the information. They are also known as Murray magpies, I guess because there are lots of them around the Murray. We are having a minor territorial dispute between Pew and his recent offspring. At present they are sharing the territory, but it is tense. So far it has just been a lot of chasing and shouting. I'm hoping it doesn't escalate into something else.
It has been a sudden development. Three weeks ago Pew was still feeding the offspring.