The Grey Butcherbird is a close relative of the pied butcherbird which I have featured on a number of occasions during the year.
While there are Greys in the close neighbourhood, we don't get them coming into the yard very often because the Pieds hate them and really go after them.
The Greys are slightly smaller than the Pieds and are very bold and cheeky and they seem to deliberately provoke the Pieds.
They don't have the beautiful song of the Pieds but use more of a chattering type call. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlAb-ObjIH4 to listen to a very interesting sound bite of a pair in Sydney
Wow what an awesome shot of a beautiful Butcher Bird. I really love this, an instant FAV . It really goes to show the difference between a fully grown one to a baby one. I was totally surprised to find a baby one in a tree and didn't know what it was. It looked like a butcher bird but was brown. Apparently they starts out brown and then turn into the beautiful grey and black as you have here. Here is the one I took so you can see what I am going on about lol http://365project.org/leanne333/365/2014-10-30
@leanne333 That is definitely a baby Grey Butcherbird Leanne. The hook on the end of the beak is always a dead giveaway that it is a butcherbird. FYI, the baby Pied Butcherbird is white with browny grey where the black is in the adult. See my pic at http://365project.org/terryliv/directors-cut/2014-02-19
However the link to the song that you gave was to a pied butcherbird. Here is a link to the song of the grey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlAb-ObjIH4
Interestingly, in this particular clip, the natural chatter call that they use is interspersed with a lot of other calls, presumably learned from elsewhere. Thanks for the fav too
Thanks for the link Poppo, I just commented on your other beautiful butcher bird photo, just gorgeous :-) Oh I didn't realise that there was a difference, I am still learning about birds, thanks heaps for the link. I hear there call heaps and never knew what they were until now. Do you belong to a bird club or are you just an avid bird watcher and photographer like myself?
@leanne333 Hell no. I have always loved birds and have always taken a strong interest in them. Our small suburban back yard is a menagerie of birds of varying shapes and sizes.
We put out three lots of feed for them on daily basis, meat for the magpies & butcherbirds, seed for the cockatoos, lorikeets, parrots, top knot pigeons etc and honey based for the lorikeets, honey eaters etc.
If you go back through the pics on my three albums, you will see that birds are my main backstop when I cant think of anything to post
@terryliv Ha ha great response lol 3 lots of seeds and meat wow!!!! It must cost you a fortune. I used to feed the magpies until my neighbour threatened to shoot them :-( So I had to stop feeding them which was so very sad since I had been feeding them for over 20 years. The followed me from one place to the next. Don't you find the Cockatoos destroy your property? I have seed out for the little birds and seed out for the Lorikeet sized birds, I am hoping to get some Rosella's. Lately I have been getting the Fryer bird, Wattle bird, Koel, New Holland Honey eaters, the usual sparrows and pigeons. Although, I have never even see a top knot pigeon, would love to one day. :-) You must live in a beautiful area to be able to get such awesome birds in your yard :-)
@leanne333 I think you should have threatened to shoot the neighbour. Why would he/she object to them.
WRT your comment re the cockatoos destroying things, have a look at my comments in http://365project.org/terryliv/365/2014-01-23
I should have mentioned that we get Pale Headed Rosellas as well.
I guess from the birds you listed you live in NSW or Vic? so you probably get Eastern Rosellas and Crimson Rosellas?
@terryliv Yes, I wanted to threaten him. The reason he hated them so much was, they had a preschool in their backyard and teh birds used to poop all over everything plus in the breeding season the maggies used to swoop him he he he I thought it was funny but he didn't.
I used to have the cockatoos come here as well until they started to eat the rubber around hubby's sun roof on his car. He wasn't to happy about that so I had to stop encouraging them. I love them, they are truly beautiful and I have lots of photos of them as well. I used to have a couple come to my door and tap on it to let me know they were there and wanted some feed lol mind you, a couple of the Rainbow Lorikeets do that too :-)
Yes, I live south of Wollongong and sometimes I see the Eastern and Crimson Rosella's but never near my place, that's why I would like to encourage them :-) You have Pale Headed Rosella???? Do you have a photo of it?
However the link to the song that you gave was to a pied butcherbird. Here is a link to the song of the grey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlAb-ObjIH4
Interestingly, in this particular clip, the natural chatter call that they use is interspersed with a lot of other calls, presumably learned from elsewhere. Thanks for the fav too
We put out three lots of feed for them on daily basis, meat for the magpies & butcherbirds, seed for the cockatoos, lorikeets, parrots, top knot pigeons etc and honey based for the lorikeets, honey eaters etc.
If you go back through the pics on my three albums, you will see that birds are my main backstop when I cant think of anything to post
WRT your comment re the cockatoos destroying things, have a look at my comments in http://365project.org/terryliv/365/2014-01-23
I should have mentioned that we get Pale Headed Rosellas as well.
I guess from the birds you listed you live in NSW or Vic? so you probably get Eastern Rosellas and Crimson Rosellas?
I used to have the cockatoos come here as well until they started to eat the rubber around hubby's sun roof on his car. He wasn't to happy about that so I had to stop encouraging them. I love them, they are truly beautiful and I have lots of photos of them as well. I used to have a couple come to my door and tap on it to let me know they were there and wanted some feed lol mind you, a couple of the Rainbow Lorikeets do that too :-)
Yes, I live south of Wollongong and sometimes I see the Eastern and Crimson Rosella's but never near my place, that's why I would like to encourage them :-) You have Pale Headed Rosella???? Do you have a photo of it?
The Pale Headed Rosella is a close relative of the Eastern Rosella which it replaces here in Nth NSW and Qld coastal. We don't get the Eastern here but Sally Agnew gets them at Stanthorpe which is west of Brisbane.