Great video. Where I live now the are Grey Butcher Birds, this morning they were picking up some small chicken scraps I had left over. Where I used to live there was a family of seven Pied Butcher Birds, they were very friendly because the bush fires had reduced their food supply, so we were hand feeding them, along with Magpies, Currawongs, Lorikeets, Cockatoos, Galahs and a range of other birds to numerous to mention. The most forward of the Pied Butcher Birds was Cheeky Bird, he would land on my shoulder, hop down my arm, look me in the eye and ask permission to eat the food from the container on my lap. If I left the patio door open there would be Magpies and Butcher Birds sitting on the lounge, they have no boundaries.
Thank you so much for the editing - i found a bird today which has beautiful singing talent my friend tell me that could be Magpie or Butcher bird And Pied calls wow that i have been looking for ! So beautiful singing Thank you once again 🙌
@Bird Watching SE-QLD Thanks Rob for this video, always good to revise already acquired knowledge! I have a little family of pied butcherbirds that come eat at our place several times a day. I interpret their sex by their behavior, as I am no professional, but the young one asks for food in a typical fledgling way and the female is much more lovely, almost lets herself pat. Love them, beautiful singing and calls. Not as smart as Magpies though I would say. The family of Grey Bs that lives 20m away from the Pied Bs never comes.
I'm glad 🙂 It's quite a journey to Oz, but you'll be ready to ID our butcherbirds from the get-go! USA has so many beautiful birds, I'm happy with the American Magpie and Blue Jay, amazing
Wow, that's fasinating. I don't think we can do that with butcherbirds yet (besides DNA). I'll keep an ear out for any development in this space for butcherbirds ☺️
@@birdwatchingse-qld2253 My comment about wood peckers is missing, ubube, i bet did not like the word WoodPECKER. I think it great they protect us harmful words, like bird names.
Thank you for the feedback 🙂 I'm currently editing a new video also including butcherbirds. I hope to cover the lesser known Australian butcherbirds in a future video. Stay tuned 🙂
nice ! means ive got both species, although i only ever see the Grey. Have found them nesting here on my little 3/4 acre up on the dividing range north of Toowoomba. hope they dont eat the Fairy Wrens that have just turned up !
Cool that you've got both species. Don't worry, your fairywrens should be fine as long they naturally prefer to hang around dense vegetation to hide in (the butcherbirds won't be able to get to them).
That's very interesting. For some reason I always thought the grey Butcherbirds were bigger than the Pied. When the Grey Butcherbird fluffs up its feathers it looks significantly larger then it is, so it is hard to compare. We live in a rural area and have both butcherbirds on our property but they are not used to seeing people and keep their distance. We do get to see the Grey Butcherbirds more often and from closer for some reason. I actually don't think they would eat pie, not even raw meat pie I don't think. Raven would be right into it though😅 Possibly in the city, but we have never seen our wild Butches to be even remotely interested in food that is not live. You know our Butcherbirds don't have the same song as yours. I really can't hear the "missing you" in their calls. It must be that our WA birds have evolved slightly different taste for music. Recently we published a video featuring an immature butcherbird which we were convinced that it was a Grey but after seeing this video I am not quite certain any more. Hmm.... and we put a label under it! I hope we haven't made a mistake😐In any case, this is a very informative and well presented video and we appreciate all the information👍
When they fluff up they can look so much bigger (that's why birds do it as defence mechanism or to impress the opposite sex). It's good that they are weary of humans, it keeps them safer, especially from pet cats. I went to WA just last year and I agree, the birds definitely have a different accent there (and sometimes songs too). The WA Australasian Swamphen is so beautiful! I had a quick look, that looks like an immature Grey 😊
@@birdwatchingse-qld2253 Thank you. I am relieved and we really appreciate it. There were certain angles in the footage which made us a bit uncertain. We really don't know much about birds, we just like their company. It is really nice to get confirmation from an expert
I’ve been trying to identify a bird I hear in my home area by its song. I’ve made a recording but haven’t spotted the bird. Is there some way I can send the recording for your opinion? I live near Camden NSW.
That's a tough one. Other than banding, you could possibly tell from plumage pattern variation but you'd need a keen eye and a good memory. It might be a bit easier to watch for their personalities. Either way. It will require much observing, which isn't a bad thing 🙂
Great job Rob! Is there a bird with similar tones to the Grey Butcherbird? Trying to ID one that calls in the morning, Coastal NSW, sounds like "keep your pants on"! i put the recording here : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4z84UhI7aEk.html
The bird in your recording is a Grey Butcherbird. Butcherbirds love to remix their songs to keep us on our toes haha. That one sounds almost parrot-like but there's definitely a Grey in there. I love that mnemonic!
