Artamidae
Pied Currawong
Strepera graculina
The Yellow-Eyed Winter
- Length
- 48 cm
- Wingspan
- 70 cm
- Family
- Artamidae
Identification
A sooty, robust songbird with a bright yellow eye, a heavy bill, and white in the wing and at the base of the tail. Larger and darker than a magpie, without the pale bill. On the Peninsula they are often a winter presence, come down from the ranges, though some stay. The ringing 'curra-wong' settles any doubt.
Distinctive marks
- Sooty black body
- Bright yellow eye
- Heavy bill
- White flash in wing and tail-base
- Ringing 'curra-wong' call
Behaviour & ecology
They take figs, nestlings, and large insects with equal composure, and will work a fruiting street in loose winter companies. More a bird of the canopy than of the lawn. Magpies tolerate them less easily than they tolerate ravens.
Voice
A far, ringing 'curra-wong' and a wolf-whistle variation that can stop a walker. One of the great carrying voices of the south-east.
On the Peninsula
Winter visitor to Peninsula suburbs and remnant bush, with some birds remaining. More regular in taller timber and fruiting streets than on the open coast.
Season
Autumn and winter on the Peninsula; listen from April.
Diet
Fruit, large insects, nestlings, and carrion.
Conservation
Secure. Range has shifted with fruiting suburbs and remnant forest.
Lore & resonance
The yellow eye is a small lamp left on in the canopy. When a currawong calls from a winter fig, the street briefly belongs to the ranges again.
If you would attract them
A fruiting fig or lilly-pilly will bring them through. They do not need feeding. Watch the canopy, not the lawn.
