The grey currawong (Strepera versicolor) is a large passerine bird native to southern Australia, including Tasmania. One of three currawong species in the genus Strepera, it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian magpie of the family Artamidae. It is a large crow-like bird, around long on average; with yellow irises, a heavy bill, dark plumage with white undertail and wing patches. The male and female are similar in appearance. Six subspecies are recognised and are distinguished by overall plumage colour, which ranges from slate-grey for the nominate from New South Wales and eastern Victoria and subspecies plumbea from Western Australia, to sooty black for the clinking currawong of Tasmania and subspecies halmaturina from Kangaroo Island. All grey currawongs have a loud distinctive ringing or clinking call.
Within its range, the grey currawong is generally sedentary, although it is a winter visitor in the southeastern corner of Australia. Comparatively little studied, much of its behaviour and habits is poorly known. Omnivorous, it has a diet that includes a variety of berries, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. The habitat includes all kinds of forested areas as well as scrubland in drier parts of the country. It is less arboreal than the pied currawong, spending more time foraging on the ground. It builds nests high in trees, which has limited the study of its breeding habits. Unlike its more common relative, it has adapted poorly to human impact and has declined in much of its range, although not considered endangered.
Taxonomy and naming The grey currawong was first described as Corvus versicolor by ornithologist John Latham in 1801, who gave it the common name of "variable crow". The specific name versicolor means 'of variable colours' in Latin.Higgins et al., p. 564. Other old common names include grey crow-shrike, leaden crow-shrike, mountain magpie, black-winged currawong (in western Victoria), clinking currawong (in Tasmania), and squeaker (in Western Australia). The black-winged currawong was known to the Ramindjeri people of Encounter Bay as wati-eri, the word meaning "to sneak" or "to track". Kiling-kildi was a name derived from the call used by the people of the lower Murray River.
Together with the pied currawong (S. graculina) and black currawong (S. fuliginosa), the grey currawong forms the genus Strepera. Although crow-like in appearance and habits, currawongs are only distantly related to true crows, and are instead closely related to the 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. Ornithologists Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist recognised the close relationship between the woodswallows and the butcherbirds and relatives in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade, which later became the family Artamidae.
Subspecies
Six subspecies are spread around Australia. They vary extensively in the colour of their plumage, from grey to sooty black, and the amount of white on their wings, and most were at one time considered separate species:
S. v. versicolor, the nominate race, is known as the grey currawong, and is found in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, and eastern and central Victoria, west to Port Phillip on the coast, and to the Grampians inland.Higgins et al., p. 575. S. v. intermedia, the grey-brown form of South Australia, is also known as the brown currawong. It is found in the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas, the Gawler and Mount Lofty Ranges and the eastern areas of the Great Australian Bight. The smallest of the six subspecies, it has a shorter wing and tail. Birds in the southern Eyre Peninsula have darker plumage than those in the northern parts.Higgins et al., p. 577. First described by Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1877 from a specimen collected in Port Lincoln, its specific name is the Latin adjective intermedia "intermediate".
S. v. arguta, the darkest race, is from eastern Tasmania and is known as the clinking currawong from its callHiggins et al., p. 570. or locally as the black magpie. Sharpe called it the Tasmanian hill-crow. It was first described by John Gould in 1846. The specific name is the Latin adjective argūtus "shrill/piercing", "noisy" or "melodious".Simpson, p. 57. Larger and heavier than the nominate subspecies, it has longer wings, tail, bill, and tarsus.Higgins et al., p. 576. S. v. melanoptera, known as the black-winged currawong, is from western Victoria's Mallee region and South Australia west to the Mount Lofty Ranges. It can be difficult to distinguish from the black and pied currawongs at any distance. Of similar size and bill-shape to the nominate subspecies, it has a darker blackish-brown plumage and lacks the white wing markings. Birds from much of western Victoria are intermediates between this and the nominate subspecies, often bearing partial white markings on the wings. Similarly, in the western part of its range in South Australia are intermediate with subspecies to the west and also have some paler patches. Named by John Gould in 1846, its specific name is derived from the Ancient Greek words melano- "black" and pteron "wings". American ornithologist Dean Amadon observed that birds from northwestern Victoria were lighter in plumage than those of South Australia, and tentatively classified them as a separate subspecies howei. However, he noted they warranted further investigation, and subsequent authorities have not recognised the populations as separate. S. v. halmaturina is restricted to Kangaroo Island. A dark-plumaged subspecies, it has a longer narrower bill than the nominate race, and is lighter in weight. The specific name is the adjective halmaturina "of Kangaroo Island". It was first named by Gregory Mathews in 1912. S. v. plumbea is found from western South Australia and the southwestern corner of the Northern Territory westwards into Western Australia. It is colloquially known as "squeaker" from the sound of its call. Named by Gould in 1846, its specific name is the Latin adjective plumběus "leaden".Simpson, p. 454. The common name leaden crow-shrike refers to this group. Very similar in plumage to the nominate subspecies, it differs in its thicker, more downward curved bill. The base plumage is variable, but tends to be slightly darker and possibly more brown-tinged than the nominate subspecies. Amadon noted that a specimen from the Everard Ranges in northwestern South Australia was larger and paler than other specimens of plumbea. Although he considered these Central Australian birds as a separate subspecies centralia, he conceded very little was known. They have been considered part of plumbea subsequently.
Description
A larger and more slender bird than its more common relative the pied currawong, the adult grey currawong ranges from in length, with an average of around ; the wingspan varies from , averaging around , with an average weight of around . Adults of the Tasmanian subspecies average around . The male is on average slightly larger than the female, but the size and weight ranges mostly overlap.Higgins et al., p. 574. It is generally a dark grey 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. The orbital (eye-ring), legs and feet are black, whereas the bill and gape range from greyish black to black. The overall plumage varies according to subspecies. The nominate race versicolor and plumbea are slate-grey in colour, while melanoptera and intermedia are blackish-brown, and arguta of Tasmania and halmaturina a sooty black. The size of the white patch on the wing also varies, being large and easily spotted in versicolor, plumbea, intermedia and arguta, but non-existent or indistinct in melanoptera and halmaturina.
More specifically, the nominate subspecies has a grey forehead, crown, nape, ear-coverts and throat with the face a darker grey-black. The feathers of the throat are longer, giving rise to hackles there. The upperparts and underparts are a brownish-grey and become more brown with age. Towards the belly, the feathers are a paler grey. The wings are grey-brown, and the blackish primaries have white edges which merge to form the prominent white wing markings.
Birds appear to moult once a year in spring or summer, although observations have been limited. Young birds spend about a year in juvenile plumage before moulting into adult plumage at around a year old. Juvenile birds have more brown-tinged and uniform plumage; the darker colour around the lores and eyes are less distinct.Higgins et al., p. 573. Their blackish bill is yellow-tipped, and the gape is yellow. Their eyes are brownish, but turn yellow early. The exact timing is unknown but likely to be around four months of age.
Voice
Unlike that of the pied currawong, the grey currawong's call does not sound like its name. The grey currawong is best known for making a sound variously transcribed as p'rink, clink, cling, ker-link or tullock, either in flight or when gathered in any numbers. The call has been described as very loud and ringing in the Tasmanian and Kangaroo Island subspecies; Edwin Ashby wrote that in Tasmania it was akin to the squeaking of a wheelbarrow and Gregory Mathews that it was like the kling of an anvil. Elsewhere, their call has been likened to the screech of ungreased metal grinding in Victoria and South Australia (races versicolor and melanoptera are noted as similar to each other), and as a harsh squeak in Western Australia.Higgins et al., p. 571. The clinking call resembles that of the superb lyrebird, which imitates the currawong call at times.
A softer and more tuneful musical call has been called the toy-trumpet call. It has been reported to foretell rainy weather. The loud bell call resembles the clinking call, and is a clear piping sound. Females and young make an insistent repetitive squawking when begging for food from a parent or mate, similar to the begging call of the Australian magpie, and make a gobbling sound when fed.
Similar species The grey currawong is unlikely to be confused with other species apart from other currawongs. It is immediately distinguishable from crows and ravens as they have wholly black plumage, a stockier build and white (rather than yellow) eyes. However, it can be encountered in mixed-species flocks with the pied currawong. It can be distinguished by its paler plumage, lack of white base to the tail, straighter bill, and very different vocalisations.Higgins et al., p. 565. In northwestern Victoria, the black-winged currawong (subspecies melanoptera) has a darker plumage than other grey subspecies, and is thus more similar in appearance to the pied currawong, but its wings lack the white primaries of the latter species.Higgins et al., p. 531. In Tasmania, the black currawong is similar but has a heavier bill and call similar to the pied and lacks the white rump.Higgins et al., p. 557.
Distribution and habitat