pied currawong

The pied currawong's binomial names were derived from the Latin strepera, meaning "noisy", and graculina for resembling a jackdaw.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=529}} (Graculina isn't linked to actual jackdaws here but back in the days there was a conflation of jackdaws and grackles, the latter having been falsely considered to be part of the genus Gracula for a while) It was first described by English ornithologist George Shaw in John White's 1790 book, Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, as the "white-vented crow", with Latin name Corvus graculinus.{{cite book |last1=White |first1=John |author1-link=John White (surgeon) |title=Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales |date=1790 |publisher=J. Debrett |location=London |page=251 |chapter=The White-Vented Crow}} [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301531h.html PGA] [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47182587#page/347/ BHL] Also published in 1790, John Latham introduced the name Coracias strepera, classifying it with the rollers.{{cite book |last1=Latham |first1=John |author1-link=John Latham (ornithologist) |title=Index Ornithologicus, vol I |date=1790 |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/226470#page/195/ 173]}} The specific epithet strepera (or its masculine form, streperus) was used by several subsequent authors including Leach, Vieillot, Shaw, Temminck, and Gould, in genera Corvus (crows), Cracticus,{{cite book |last1=Vieillot |first1=L. P. (Louis Pierre) |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/48613 |title=La Galerie des Oiseaux |date=1834 |publisher=Carpenter-Méricourt |location=Paris |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/104412#page/461/ 173]–174 |language=fr |author1-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot}} [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/104412#page/460/ Illustration] by Paul Louis Oudart. Gracula (grackles),{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=George |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/1593 |title=General Zoology |date=1809 |publisher=G. Kearsley |volume=7 part 2 |location=London |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175627#page/616/ 462] |quote=In Mr. White's Voyage, above referred to, I have considered this bird as a species of Corvus; but am at present inclined to think it more properly a species of Gracula. |author1-link=George Shaw (biologist)}} Barita,{{cite book |last1=Temminck |first1=C.J. (Coenraad Jacob) |author1-link=Coenraad Temminck |title=Manuel d'Ornithologie |date=1820–1840 |publisher=Chez H. Cousin |location=Paris |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127467#page/63/ li] |edition=2 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/62639 |language=fr}} and Coronica.

René Lesson defined Strepera as a sub-genus of crows in 1831.{{cite book |last1=Lesson |first1=René P. |author1-link=René Lesson |title=Traité d'ornithologie |date=1831 |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/111050#page/367/ 329] |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/51958}} John Gould described a second species, the black currawong of Tasmania, in 1836,{{cite journal |last=Gould |first=John |authorlink=John Gould |title=Characters of new species of Birds from New South Wales |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |year=1836 |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=106 |url=https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofgen36zool#page/n119/ |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1836.tb01374.x}} and the next year created genus Coronica for both species.{{cite book |last=Gould |first=John |authorlink=John Gould |title=A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia, and Adjacent Islands |year=1837 |publisher=John Gould |location=London |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/172464#page/29/ following] plate 5}} George Robert Gray adopted Lesson's name Strepera at the genus level and introduced the combination Strepera graculina in 1840.{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=George Robert |author1-link=George Robert Gray |title=A list of the genera of birds |date=1840 |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/48588#page/51/ 37] |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/13777}}{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=George Robert |title=The Genera of Birds |date=1844–1849 |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/148321#page/14/ 302] |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/60796}}

Pied crow-shrike is an old vernacular name from colonial days,{{cite book |last1=Gould |first1=John |author1-link=John Gould |title=The Birds of Australia |date=1848 |publisher=John Gould |location=London}} [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/187062#page/176/ plate 42] et seq.{{cite book |last1=Gould |first1=John |author1-link=John Gould |title=Handbook to the Birds of Australia |date=1865 |chapter=Streptera graculina |chapter-url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47649#page/182/}} and the term "pied" refers to two or more colors in blotches. Other common names include pied chillawong, currawang, charawack, kurrawack, tallawong, tullawong, mutton-bird, Otway forester, and pied afternoon-tea bird. The onomatopoeic term currawong itself is derived from the bird's call.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=530}} However, the exact origin of the term is unclear; the most likely antecedent is the word garrawaŋ from the indigenous Jagera language from the Brisbane region, although the Darug word gurawaruŋ from the Sydney basin is a possibility.{{cite book|last=Dixon|first=Robert Malcolm Ward|title=Australian Aboriginal Words in English|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1992|page=90|isbn=0-19-553394-1}} Yungang as well as Kurrawang and Kurrawah are names from the Tharawal people of the Illawarra region.{{cite web|url=http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cultureheritage/illawarraAboriginalResourceUse.pdf|title=Murni Dhugang Jirrar: Living in the Illawarra|last=Wesson|first=Sue |date=August 2005|work=Department of Environment, Climate Change, and Water|publisher=Department of Environment, Climate Change, and Water, State Government of New South Wales |pages=81|access-date=22 February 2010}} French ornithologists such as Daudin, Lesson, and Vieillot called it the {{lang|fr|réveilleur}},{{cite book |last1=Daudin |first1=F. M. (François Marie) |author1-link=François Marie Daudin |title=Traité élémentaire et complet d'ornithologie, ou, Histoire naturelle des oiseaux |date=1800 |publisher=Daudin (Chez l'Auteur) |location=Paris |page=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/122045#page/293/ 267]–268 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/52288 |language=fr}} meaning 'alarm clock' or 'wake-up caller'.

Its closest relative is the black currawong (S. fuliginosa) of Tasmania, which has sometimes been considered a subspecies.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=552}} Together with the larger grey currawong (S. versicolor), they form the genus Strepera.{{cite book |title=Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds|url=https://archive.org/details/systematicstaxon00chri|url-access=limited|author1=Christidis, L |author2=Boles, WE |year=2008 |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |location=Canberra |isbn=978-0-643-06511-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/systematicstaxon00chri/page/n206 196]}} Although crow-like in appearance and habits, currawongs are only distantly related to true crows, and instead belong to the family Artamidae, together with the closely related Australian magpie and the butcherbirds. The affinities of all three genera were recognised early on and they were placed in the family Cracticidae in 1914 by ornithologist John Albert Leach after he had studied their musculature.{{cite journal |doi=10.1071/MU914002 |last=Leach |first=John Albert |author-link=John Albert Leach |year=1914|title=The myology of the Bell-Magpie (Strepera) and its position in classification |journal=Emu |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=2–38|bibcode=1914EmuAO..14....2L |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429902 }} Ornithologists Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist recognised the close relationship between woodswallows and butcherbirds in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade,{{cite journal|doi=10.1071/MU9850001|author1=Sibley, CG |author2=Ahlquist, JE |year=1985|title=The phylogeny and classification of Australo-Papuan passerine birds|journal=Emu|volume=85|issue=1|pages=1–14|bibcode=1985EmuAO..85....1S |url=http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=MU9850001.pdf |access-date=15 April 2009}} which became the family Artamidae.

Six subspecies are currently recognised, characterised principally by differences in size and plumage. There is a steady change to the birds' morphology and size the further south they are encountered, with lighter and more greyish plumage, larger body size, and a shorter bill. Southerly populations also show more white plumage in the tail, with less whiteness on the wing.

• Strepera graculina graculina is the nominate form, found from the Sydney region north to the Burdekin River in northern Queensland.
• Strepera graculina ashbyi, (critically endangered),{{cite web|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/action/birds2000/pubs/pied-currawong-v.pdf |title=Recovery Outline: Pied Currawong (western Victoria) |year=2000 |publisher=Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts |access-date=2009-11-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112162702/http://environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/action/birds2000/pubs/pied-currawong-v.pdf |archive-date=2011-11-12 }} the western Victorian pied currawong, was described by Australian amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews in 1913.{{cite journal|last=Mathews|first=Gregory M.|year=1913|title=Strepera graculina ashbyi|journal=Austral Avian Record|volume=2|issue=4|pages=78|url=https://archive.org/stream/australavianre2191315math#page/78/mode/2up}} It is threatened by hybridization with the neighbouring subspecies nebulosa whose range is expanding westwards.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=533}} A 2000 estimate placed the number of breeding birds at around 250. It resembles subspecies nebulosa, with sooty plumage, a long tail and a short bill.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=553}} There is some doubt over whether ashbyi, which is little known, is a distinct subspecies or a colour morph of nebulosa. It is thought to have evolved after the two populations became separated by basalt plains in western Victoria, with the return of trees after the abandonment of regular Aboriginal burning in the late 18th century contributing to the remixing of populations. Hybrid forms have been identified in the Grampians and Yarra Valley. Further investigation in 2017 by Peter Menkhorst and Craig Morley established that the type specimen was an immature bird and that its collection point and characteristics placed it within subspecies nebulosa. They also observed there is a population that is abundant (rather than endangered) in the Otway Ranges that has a smaller speculum (wingpatch) than nebulosa and that Mathews had mistaken this for a subspecies of grey currawong, naming it Neostrepera versicolor riordani.{{cite journal |last1=Menkhorst |first1=Peter |last2=Morley |first2=Craig |title=The Otway Forester Strepera graculina ashbyi : A neglected and misunderstood subspecies of the Pied Currawong from southern Victoria |journal=Australian Field Ornithology |date=2017 |volume=34 |pages=37–46 |doi=10.20938/af034037046 |s2cid=90812810 |url=https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2073|url-access=subscription }} They proposed renaming S. g. nebulosa to S. g. ashbyi and the other population as S. g. riordani.{{Cite journal |doi = 10.20938/afo34127128|title = Taxonomic and nomenclatural implications of a review of the Pied Currawong Strepera graculina in southern Victoria|journal = Australian Field Ornithology|volume = 34|pages = 127–128|year = 2017|last1 = Menkhorst|first1 = Peter|last2 = Morley|first2 = Craig}}
• Strepera graculina crissalis, (vulnerable){{cite web|url=http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10897|title=Lord Howe Currawong: profile|year=2005|work=NSW Threatened species website|publisher=NSW Government - Department of Environment and Conservation|access-date=2009-11-11|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070908232704/http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10897 |archive-date=2007-09-08 |url-status=dead}} the Lord Howe currawong was described by English naturalist Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1877.{{cite journal|last=Sharpe|first=Richard Bowdler|year=1877|title=Strepera crissalis|journal=Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum|volume=3|page=58|url=https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofbirds03brit#page/58/mode/2up}} It appears to have adapted well to human habitation on Lord Howe Island, though the population is small overall, somewhere around 70–80 birds.{{cite journal |first=S. |last=Garnett |title=Threatened and Extinct Birds Of Australia |journal=RAOU Conservation Statement |publisher=Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union |date=1993 |issn=0812-8014 |oclc=15072417}} Although regarded as a subspecies, it has yet to be studied with molecular DNA techniques, which may lead to it being reclassified as a separate species.{{cite journal|author1=McAllan, IAW |author2=Curtis, BR |author3=Hutton, I |author4=Cooper, RM |year=2004|title=The birds of the Lord Howe Island Group: a review of records|journal=Australian Field Ornithology|volume=21|pages=1–82 |issue=Suppl |url=https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/671}}

File:Currawong in peppercorn.jpg|alt=A dark grey crow-like bird perched in a peppercorn tree]]

• Strepera graculina magnirostris is found on the Cape York Peninsula to the Normanby River in northern Queensland. First described by Henry Lake White in 1923,{{cite journal|doi=10.1071/MU922258|last=White|first=Henry Lake|title=Notes on the Pied Bell-Magpie (Strepera graculina)|year=1923|journal=Emu|publisher=RAOU|volume=22|issue=3|pages=258|bibcode=1923EmuAO..22..258W }} it has a longer and heavier bill and shorter tail than the nominate subspecies. It has been little studied to date.
• Strepera graculina robinsoni is found on the Atherton Tableland in northeastern Queensland. First described by Gregory Mathews in 1912,{{cite journal|last=Mathews|first=Gregory M.|year=1912|title=Strepera graculina robinsoni |journal=Novitates Zoologicae|volume=18|issue=3|page=443|url=https://archive.org/stream/novitateszoologi18lond#page/442/mode/2up }} it is combined with magnirostris by some authors. Little researched, it appears to be smaller than other subspecies.
• Strepera graculina nebulosa, found in southeastern New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and central Victoria, is very similar to the nominate subspecies but has a shorter bill, longer tail and larger wing. Its upperparts are sooty black, a little paler than the nominate subspecies, and underparts sooty black to slate-grey. The white patch on the primary flight feathers is also smaller. It was first defined in 1999 by ornithologists and bird taxonomists Richard Schodde and Ian Mason.{{cite book|last=Schodde |first=Richard|author2=Mason, Ian J.|series=The directory of Australian birds: a taxonomic and zoogeographic atlas of the biodiversity of birds in Australia and its territories |volume=1 |title=Passerines |publisher=CSIRO Publishing|location=Melbourne|year=1999|page=552|isbn=0-643-06456-7}} There is a hybrid zone with subspecies graculina in southern and central New South Wales, from Eden north to the Illawarra region and stretching northwest to the Blue Mountains.

File:Lord Howe Island Currawong.jpg

The pied currawong is generally a black bird with white in the wing, undertail coverts, the base of the tail and most visibly, the tip of the tail. It has yellow eyes. Adult birds are {{convert|44|–|50|cm|abbr=on}} in length, with an average of around {{convert|48|cm|0|abbr=on}}; the wingspan varies from {{convert|56|to|77|cm|abbr=on}}, averaging around {{convert|69|cm|0|abbr=on}}. Adult males average around {{convert|320|g|oz|0|lk=on|abbr=on}}, females {{convert|280|g|oz|0|abbr=on}}. The wings are long and broad. The long and heavy bill is about one and a half times as long as the head and is hooked at the end.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=551}} Juvenile birds have similar markings to adults but have softer and brownish plumage overall, although the white band on the tail is narrower. The upperparts are darker brown with scallops and streaks over the head and neck, and the underparts lighter brown. The eyes are dark brown and the bill dark with a yellow tip. The gape is a prominent yellow. Older birds grow darker until adult plumage is achieved, but juvenile tail markings only change to adult late in development. Birds appear to moult once a year in late summer after breeding. The pied currawong can live for over 20 years in the wild.

{{listen|filename=Pied-Currawong.ogg|title= Song|description=}}

Pied currawongs are vocal birds, calling when in flight and at all times of the day. They are noisier early in the morning and in the evening before roosting, as well as before rain.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=531}} The loud distinctive call has been translated as Kadow-Kadang or Curra-wong, akin to a croak. They also have a loud, high-pitched, wolf-like whistle, transcribed as Wheeo.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=545}} The endemic Lord Howe Island subspecies has a distinct, more melodious call.

The smaller white-winged chough has similar plumage but has red eyes and is found mainly on the ground. Australian crow and raven species have white eyes and lack the white rump, and the similar-sized Australian magpie has red eyes and prominent black and white plumage. The larger grey currawong is readily distinguished by its lighter grey overall plumage and lack of white feathers at the base of the tail.{{cite book |title= A Field Guide to Australian Birds. Volume Two: Passerines |author= Slater, Peter|year= 1974|publisher= Rigby |location= Adelaide |isbn= 0-85179-813-6 |page=282}} In northwestern Victoria, the black-winged currawong (subspecies melanoptera of the grey) does have a darker plumage than other grey subspecies, but its wings lack the white primaries of the pied currawong.

File:Pied currawong feeding its chick.jpg

The pied currawong is common in both wet and dry sclerophyll forests, rural and semi-urban environments throughout eastern Australia, from Cape York Peninsula to western Victoria and Lord Howe Island, where it occurs as an endemic subspecies. It has more recently become prevalent in South-East South Australia, in and around Mount Gambier. It has adapted well to European presence, and has become more common in many areas of eastern Australia, with surveys in Nanango, Queensland, Barham, New South Wales, Geelong, Victoria, as well as the Northern Tablelands and South West Slopes regions in New South Wales, all showing an increase in population. This increase has been most marked, however, in Sydney and Canberra since the 1940s and 1960s, respectively. In both cities, the species had previously been a winter resident only, but now remains year-round and breeds there. They are a dominant species and common inhabitant of Sydney gardens.{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1442-9993.2006.01584.x|author1=Parsons, H |author2=Major, RE |author3=French, K |year=2006|title=Species interactions and habitat associations of birds inhabiting urban areas of Sydney, Australia|journal=Austral Ecology|volume=31|issue=2|pages=217–27|bibcode=2006AusEc..31..217P }}

In general, the pied currawong is sedentary, although some populations from higher altitudes move to areas of lower elevation in winter. However, evidence for the extent of migration is conflicting, and the species' movements have been little studied to date.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=534}} More recently still, a survey of the population of pied currawongs in southeastern Queensland between 1980 and 2000 had found the species had become more numerous there, including suburban Brisbane.{{cite journal|author=Woodall, PF|year=2004|title=The distribution and abundance of Pied Currawong and Torresian Crow in South-east Queensland|journal=The Sunbird: Journal of the Queensland Ornithological Society|volume=34|issue=2|pages=49–57|issn=1037-258X|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:71609/Woodall_distribution_and_abundance_of_pied.pdf |access-date=2009-11-11 }} One 1992 survey reported the total number of pied currawongs in Australia had doubled from three million birds in the 1960s to six million in the early 1990s.

The pied currawong is able to cross bodies of water of some size, as it has been recorded from Rodondo Island, which lies {{convert|10|km|abbr=on}} off the coast of Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, as well as some offshore islands in Queensland. It has disappeared from Tryon, North West, Masthead and Heron Islands in the

Capricorn Group on the Great Barrier Reef.{{cite journal|vauthors=Kikkawa J, Boles W |year=1976|title=Seabird Islands. No 15. Heron Island, Queensland|journal=Australian Bird Bander|volume=14|issue=1|pages=3–6}}{{cite journal|author=Walker, TA|year=1987|title=Birds of Bushy Island (with a summary of the nesting status of bud species on southern. Great Barrier Reef cays)|journal=Sunbird|volume=17|pages=52–58}} The presence of the Lord Howe subspecies is possibly the result of a chance landing there.

The pied currawong's impact on smaller birds that are vulnerable to nest predation is controversial: several studies have suggested that the species has become a serious problem, but the truth of this widely held perception was queried in a 2001 review of the published literature on their foraging habits by Bayly and Blumstein of Macquarie University, who observed that common introduced birds were more affected than native birds.{{cite journal|doi=10.1071/MU00018|author1=Bayly, KL |author2=Blumstein, DT |title=Pied Currawongs and the decline of native birds|journal=Emu|year=2001|volume=101|issue=3|pages=199–204|bibcode=2001EmuAO.101..199B |s2cid=29361364 |url=http://www.eeb.ucla.edu/Faculty/Blumstein/pdf%20reprints/Bayly&Blumstein2001_Emu.pdf |access-date=2011-10-21}} However, predation by pied currawongs has been a factor in the decline of Gould's petrel at a colony on Cabbage Tree Island, near Port Stephens in New South Wales; currawongs have been reported preying on adult seabirds. Their removal from the islands halted a decline of the threatened petrels.{{cite journal|author1=Priddel, D |author2=Carlile, N |year=1995|title=Mortality of Adult Gould's Petrels Pterodroma leucoptera leucoptera at the Nesting Site on Cabbage Tree Island, New South Wales|journal=Emu|volume=95|issue=4|pages=259–64|doi=10.1071/MU9950259|bibcode=1995EmuAO..95..259P }} Furthermore, a University of New England study published in 2006 reported that the breeding success rates for the eastern yellow robin (Eopsaltria australis) and scarlet robin (Petroica boodang) on the New England Tablelands were improved after nests were protected and currawongs culled, and some yellow robins even re-colonised an area where they had become locally extinct.{{cite journal|author=Debus, SJS|year=2006|title=The Role of Intense Nest Predation in the Decline of Scarlet Robins and Eastern Yellow Robins in Remnant Woodland Near Armidale, New South Wales|journal=Pacific Conservation Biology|volume=12|issue=4|pages=279–87|issn=1038-2097|doi=10.1071/PC060279}} The presence of pied currawongs in Sydney gardens is negatively correlated with the presence of silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis).

The species has been implicated in the spread of weeds by consuming and dispersing fruit and seed. In the first half of the twentieth century, pied currawongs were shot as they were considered pests of corn and strawberry crops, as well as assisting in the spread of the prickly pear. They were also shot on Lord Howe Island for attacking chickens. However, they are seen as beneficial in forestry as they consume phasmids, and also in agriculture for eating cocoons of the codling moth.

File:Currawongs carnarvon gorge 1994 email.jpg — picnic time, Carnarvon Gorge|alt=many black crow-like birds clustered around an old car, upon which is a sandwich. A person watches the birds in a bemused manner. The setting is a picnic area carpark in a wilderness national park.]]

Pied currawongs are generally tree-dwelling, hunting and foraging some metres above the ground, and thus able to share territory with the ground-foraging Australian magpie. Birds roost in forested areas or large trees at night, disperse to forage in the early morning and return in the late afternoon.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=543}} Although often solitary or encountered in small groups, the species may form larger flocks of fifty or more birds in autumn and winter. On the ground, a pied currawong hops or struts.

During the breeding season, pied currawongs will pair up and become territorial, defending both nesting and feeding areas. A 1994 study in Sydney's leafy northern suburbs measured an average distance of {{convert|250|m|abbr=on}} between nests,{{cite journal|last=Larkins|first=D|year=1994|title=The Channel-billed Cuckoo: Behaviour at Nests of Pied Currawongs|journal=Australian Birds|volume=28|pages=7–10}} while another in Canberra in 1990 had three pairs in a {{convert|400|m|abbr=on}} segment of pine-tree lined street.{{cite journal|last=Lenz|first=M|year=1990|title=The Pied Currawong in Urban Canberra: Friend or Foe?|journal=Canberra Bird Notes|volume=15|issue=1|pages=2–9|url=http://canberrabirds.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/CBN/cbnvol15no1.pdf}} Territories have been measured around 0.5–0.7 ha in Sydney and Wollongong, although these were restricted to nesting areas and did not include a larger feeding territory, and 7.9 ha in Canberra. Pied currawongs vigorously drive off threats such as ravens, and engage in bill-snapping, dive-bombing and aerial pursuit. They adopt a specific threat display against other currawongs by lowering the head so the head and body are parallel to the ground and pointing the beak out forward, often directly at the intruder.{{cite journal|last=Wood|first=KA|title=Aspects of breeding of the Pied Currawong Strepera graculina at Wollongong, New South Wales|year=2001|journal=Corella|volume=25|issue=4|pages=85–93}} The male predominates in threat displays and territorial defence, and guards the female closely as she builds the nest.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=544}}

Flocks of birds appear to engage in play; one routine involves a bird perching atop a tall tree, pole or spire, and others swooping, tumbling or diving and attempting to dislodge it. A successful challenger is then challenged in its turn by other birds in the flock.

The pied currawong bathes by wading into water up to {{convert|15|cm|abbr=on}} deep, squatting down, ducking its head under, and shaking its wings. It preens its plumage afterwards, sometimes applying mud or soil first. The species has also been observed anting.

File:Cuckoo being fed by pied currawong.jpg

Although found in many types of woodland, the pied currawong prefers to breed in mature forests. It builds a nest of thin sticks lined with grass and bark high in trees in spring; generally eucalypts are chosen and never isolated ones. It produces a clutch of three eggs; they are a light pinkish-brown colour (likened by one author to that of silly putty) with splotches of darker pink-brown and lavender. Tapered oval in shape, they measure about {{convert|30|×|42|mm|abbr=on}}.{{cite book|author=Beruldsen G | title = Australian Birds: Their Nests and Eggs| publisher = self |year = 2003| location = Kenmore Hills, Qld| page = 280|isbn=0-646-42798-9}} The female broods alone.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=548}} The incubation period is not well known, due to the difficulty of observing nests, but observations indicate around 30 days from laying to hatching. Like all passerines, the chicks are born naked, and blind (altricial), and remain in the nest for an extended period (nidicolous) They quickly grow a layer of ashy-grey down. Both parents feed the young, although the male does not begin to feed them directly until a few days after birth.

The channel-billed cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) parasitizes pied currawong nests, laying eggs which are then raised by the unsuspecting foster parents.{{cite book|author=Johnsgard PA|title=The avian brood parasites: deception at the nest|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1997|pages=268–69|isbn=0-19-511042-0}} The eggs closely resemble those of the currawong hosts. Pied currawongs have been known to desert nests once cuckoos have visited, abandoning the existing currawong young, which die, and a channel-billed cuckoo has been recorded decapitating a currawong nestling. The brown goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus) and lace monitor (Varanus varius) have also been recorded taking nestlings.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=549}}

File:Regurgitated Pellets of Strepera graculina.jpg

The pied currawong is an omnivorous and opportunistic feeder, eating fruit and berries as well as preying on many invertebrates, and smaller vertebrates, mostly juvenile birds and bird eggs, although they may take healthy adult birds up to the size of a crested pigeon on occasion. Currawongs will hunt in trees, snatching insects and berries, as well as birds and eggs from nests. They also hunt in the air and on the ground.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=536}} Insects predominate in the diet during summer months, and fruit during the winter. They will often scavenge, eating scraps and rubbish and can be quite bold when seeking food from people, lingering around picnic areas and bird-feeding trays.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=537}} Beetles and ants are the most common types of insects consumed. Pied currawongs have been recorded taking mice, as well as chickens and turkeys from farms.{{cite journal|doi=10.1071/MU942017|last=Roberts |first=N.L.|year=1942|title=The Winter Flocking of the Pied Currawong |journal=Emu|volume=42|issue=1|pages=17–24|bibcode=1942EmuAO..42...17R }} The pied currawong consumes fruit, including a wide variety of figs, such as the Moreton Bay (Ficus macrophylla), Port Jackson (F. rubiginosa), Banyan (F. virens) and Strangler fig (F. watkinsiana),{{cite book|last=Floyd|first=Alex G.|title=Rainforest Trees of Mainland Southeastern Australia|publisher=Terania Rainforest Publishing|location=Lismore, NSW|year=2009|pages=232–35|isbn=978-0-9589436-7-3}} as well as lillypillies (Syzygium species), white cedar (Melia azedarach), plum pine (Podocarpus elatus), and geebungs (Persoonia species). Other fruit is also sought after, and currawongs have been known to raid orchards, eating apples, pears, strawberries, grapes, stone fruit, citrus, and corn.{{harvnb|Higgins|Peter|Cowling|2006|p=538}} Pied currawongs have been responsible for the spread of the invasive ornamental Asparagus aethiopicus (often called A. densiflorus) in the Sydney area,{{cite web|title=Asparagus Densiflorus – Asparagus Fern |url=http://www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au/Our%20Environment/natural%20environment/Noxious%20Weeds/NoxiousWeedDescriptions-Asparagusdensiflorus.htm |access-date=2009-07-28 |work=Lane Cove Council – Our Environment |publisher=Lane Cove Council, NSW |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711182037/http://www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au/Our%20Environment/Natural%20Environment/Noxious%20Weeds/NoxiousWeedDescriptions-Asparagusdensiflorus.htm |archive-date=2009-07-11 }} the weedy privet species Ligustrum lucidum and L. sinense, and firethorn species Pyracantha angustifolia and P. rogersiana around Armidale.

Birds forage singly or in pairs in summer, and more often in larger flocks in autumn and winter, during which time they are more likely to loiter around people and urban areas. They occasionally associate with Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) or common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) when foraging. Birds have also been encountered with grey currawongs (S. versicolor) and satin bowerbirds (Ptilinorhynchus violaceus). The species has been reported stealing food from other birds such as the Australian hobby (Falco longipennis),{{cite journal |last=Veerman |first=PA|year=1986|title=Pied Currawong; Thief|journal=Canberra Bird Notes|volume=11 |issue=4 |page=132|url=http://canberrabirds.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/CBN/cbnvol11no4.pdf}} collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus), and sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita).{{cite journal |last=Metcalf|first=EC|year=1988|title=Notes on Currawong–Sparrowhawk Interactions|journal=Canberra Bird Notes|volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=30–31|url=http://canberrabirds.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/CBN/cbnvol13no2.pdf}} Pied currawongs will also harass each other. A 2007 study conducted by researchers from the Australian National University showed that white-browed scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) nestlings became silent when they heard the recorded sound of a pied currawong walking through leaf litter.{{cite journal|vauthors=Magrath RD, Pitcher BJ, Dalziell AH |year=2007|title=How to be fed but not eaten: nestling responses to parental food calls and the sound of a predator's footsteps |journal=Animal Behaviour|volume=74|issue=5|pages=1117–29|doi=10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.01.025|s2cid=53156673}}

The range size criterion does not apply to this species because it has such a large range. As a result, it does not approach the vulnerable thresholds. The population trend appears to be increasing and its size has not been quantified, but it does not appear to be close to the susceptible thresholds under the population size criterion (10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10 percent in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). As a result, the species is considered to be least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds |volume=7 |title=Boatbill to Starlings |editor1-last= Higgins |editor1-first=Peter Jeffrey |editor2-last=Peter |editor2-first=John M. |editor3-last= Cowling |editor3-first=S. J. |year= 2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= Melbourne, Victoria |isbn= 978-0-19-553996-7 }}

• {{Commons-inline|Strepera graculina}}
• {{cite web |title=Strepera (Strepera) graculina (Shaw, 1790): Pied Currawong |publisher=Atlas of Living Australia |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/eb315a61-418b-4a12-bc98-9096fe17bde9}}

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pied currawong

Category:Endemic birds of Australia

pied currawong

Category:Taxa named by George Shaw