Apostlebird

Description:

I know this bird as a Lousy Jack and they are as gregarious as described. They are "medium-sized dark grey bird[s] with a short strong bill, brown wings and black tail." (Birdlife Australia - https://www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile... )

Habitat:

A whole bunch of them are always hanging out at the park in Nanango, QLD. The park has a small creek running parallel-ish to the road which kind of borders it from a private paddock.

Notes:

These awesome birds are called Apostlebirds as early Europeans initially thought their groups consisted of 12 birds. Groups can in fact consist of somewhere up to 30 birds. They are also known as co-operative breeders meaning they generally have a dominant breeding pair with family members helping out...hence the large groups. These birds are known to associate with White-winged Choughs (Corcorax melanorhamphos) - see spotting: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/21... which also graced us with their presence! I have such fond memories of both of these species as they loomed large in my growing up years on the farm. Here is a great article from Australian Geographic, about kidnapping from neighbours broods - (https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/... ) These birds are so funny. My mum and I were sitting at the park bench with all of the other species (that are listed further on) plus Rainbow Lorikeets and Blue-faced Honey-eaters hanging around us. Before this photo the White-winged Choughs had flown across from the other side of the park which seemed to cause a bit of a fuss amongst the other species. So there was a gathering of Choughs, Lousy Jacks, two young Grey Butcherbirds, one young King Parrot and Noisy Miners in the trees along the creek, right in front of us. And boy, did they carry on! The agreement they all seemed to to reach was that the Choughs had to leave. They did, in the opposite direction from the one they came. However, there must have been a time frame because they came back, sauntering across the park and passing right in front of us again on their way back to where they came from :D My other favourite thing that happened was watching one Apostlebird who was squawking away, grabbing the tail feathers of the Rainbow Lorikeets! I did get a little video of it and it makes me laugh every time I watch it :D https://youtu.be/9Yh8ZnChokQ