The bird that looks like a magpie but bigger, especially in Australia, is likely a Pied Currawong or possibly a Grey Currawong, both larger, mostly black birds with distinctive white flashes on the wings and tail, bright yellow eyes, and a heavy bill, unlike the Australian Magpie's red-brown eyes and back patches. Currawongs are known for their melodious calls and often mistaken for crows, but they're related to magpies and butcherbirds, making them a common "bigger magpie" look-alike in Australian suburbs.
Found throughout eastern Australia and commonly mistaken for a Magpie, the Pied Currawong is a vocal bird known for it's distinctive “curra-wong” call. They have a range of vocalisations including deep gurgles, a chorus of whistles and a ringing tune.
The Pied Currawong is a large, black and white bird which, while resembling a Crow or Raven, is closely related to the Magpie and Butcherbirds. It is mainly black, with white around the base of the tail and across the ends of the tail feathers.
Pied Currawongs look similar to the Australian Magpie and the Pied Butcherbird, but with a few key differences. You can easily tell these similar birds apart by their eyes. Currawongs have yellow eyes, whereas Magpies have red-brown eyes and Butcherbirds have very dark brown, almost black eyes.
Although differences in plumage can aid you in distinguishing between the two, with the Australian Magpie having more patches of white on their upper body, and the Pied Currawong having mostly black feathers with patches of white confined to their undertail and wing tips, eye colour is a sure way to determine who is ...
Identification. The Pied Currawong is a large, mostly black bird, with a bright yellow eye. Small patches of white are confined to the under tail, the tips and bases of the tail feathers and a small patch towards the tip of each wing (visible in flight). The bill is large and black and the legs are dark grey-black.
Colourisation is similar but the bills are black-tipped triangular for the Australian and an all-white bill for the Lark. The Australian's breast is black whereas the Lark has a white breast with a black bib collar. Eyes are a red-brown ring for the Australian and a white ring for the Lark.
The bird that goes "woop woop woop" in Australia is the Pheasant Coucal, a large, ground-dwelling cuckoo known for its distinctive, resonant, bubbling call that sounds like "oop-oop-oop-opp" or "whoop-whoop-whoop," often heard morning and night, and sometimes mistaken for rain.
You don't have to look far to see Dunnocks, as they're very common garden birds throughout much of the UK (except Shetland).
Raven. The world's largest member of the crow family, as large as a buzzard! Ravens have shiny black feathers and a huge, thick beak. When they're flying they have a diamond-shaped tail.
This bird has a black 'bib' on its throat, lined by a white collar and dark, almost black eyes. Unlike the Magpie, the Pied Butcherbird has white underparts. The Pied Currawong gets its name from its call, which goes 'curra-wong, curra-wong'. Almost everyone in eastern Australia will have seen the Pied Currawong.
The spiritual meaning of the butcherbird is abundance, strength, adaptability, and resilience.
Adult. Common Ravens are larger with a heftier bill than Black-billed Magpies and they don't have any white on them like magpies.
Description: The Magpie-lark is related to neither the Magpies nor the Larks. While in appearance it resembles the Australian Magpie, and, like the Magpie, is usually seen foraging on the ground, it is only about half its size, has a white underside, a thin white bill and pale eye.
One of the surveys is on 30 species of bird that are sometimes found in towns and cities.
The true currawongs are a little larger than the Australian magpie, smaller than the ravens (except possibly the little raven, which is only slightly larger on average), but broadly similar in appearance.
They are roughly the same size as a robin. Not to be confused with: the house sparrow. These birds can look similar from a distance, but the easiest way to tell them apart is the beak. A dunnock's bill is thin and pointy, while a sparrow's is much broader and powerful looking.
Australia's rarest bird is often cited as the Mukarrthippi Grasswren, with potentially only a handful of individuals left in New South Wales, though the elusive Night Parrot and Red Goshawk are also contenders for the title, each with critically low numbers and facing high extinction risks. The Mukarrthippi grasswren has a very low known population (4-20) in a tiny area, while the Night Parrot population is estimated around 10-20 at Pullen Pullen Reserve, and the Red Goshawk is Australia's rarest bird of prey, with its range significantly reduced.
A bird is a warm-blooded vertebrate animal defined by having feathers, wings, a beak, two legs, and laying hard-shelled eggs, belonging to the class Aves (dinosaurs' descendants). While most fly, some like penguins swim, and others like ostriches run, showcasing diverse adaptations for their habitats, from hummingbirds to ostriches.
Casuarius casuarius johnsonii. Southern Cassowary 🪶 Dubbed as the world's most dangerous bird, the Southern Cassowary has a vivid blue neck and striking long red wattles. If they feel threatened this flightless bird can deliver a powerful kick strong enough to break bones.
The Australian bird that screams at night, often sounding like a woman or baby wailing, is the Bush Stone-curlew (also called Bush Thick-knee), known for its eerie, high-pitched contact calls used at night in woodlands and grasslands, sometimes in a chorus, and is famous for its haunting, mournful sounds.
The Laughing Kookaburra native to eastern Australia makes a very familiar call sounding like raucous laughter. Their call is used to establish territory among family groups, most often at dawn and dusk. One bird starts with a low, hiccuping chuckle, then throws its head back in raucous laughter.
Pied currawongs are not related to magpies although they look very similar. The major difference is that currawongs have bright yellow eyes. Pied currawongs range in size from 42 to 50 centimetres and weigh about the same as a grapefruit – about 300 grams.
The grey magpie with two normal-coloured magpies
Mr Johnstone told us that this little fella is in fact a leucistic bird. Leucism results in reduced pigmentation which makes the bird's plumage more transparent. This genetic phenomenon is really rare: it occurs in less than one bird in six million!
Yes, a magpie-lark is commonly known as a peewee, as well as a mudlark, due to its distinctive "pee-wee" call and its habit of building nests with mud. They are popular black and white birds in Australia, often seen in urban areas and easily recognized by their distinct calls and markings, despite not being true magpies or larks.