Corvid watch: magpie, raven, currawong
Three black-and-white thinkers of the south-east, and how not to confuse them at fifty metres.
Magpie
Pied, not black. A pale bill. Walks on the lawn like a person with an appointment. The song is a flute. If it is carolling from a TV aerial at dawn, you may close the book.
Little Raven
All black, pale eye in adults, a short barking call. In flight the tail looks squared. They gather. A single black bird on a light pole may be a raven; six on a football oval almost certainly are.
Pied Currawong
Less a Peninsula staple than a winter visitor from the ranges, but worth knowing. Heavier than a magpie, with a bright yellow eye, a heavier bill, and a white flash in the wing and tail. The voice is a ringing, far 'curra-wong'. They take figs and nestlings with equal composure.
Grey Butcherbird, a footnote
Smaller, hooded, with a hooked bill and a song that can stop a conversation. Not a corvid, but often filed beside them in the mind. Listen first.
