White-winged Chough
Corcorax melanorhamphos
Large, black, crow-sized bird with decurved bill and deep red eye. In flight, white in primaries very evident. Struts around in family groups on the ground in open woodland areas around southeastern and eastern Australia. A variety of calls includes a plaintive, descending whistle.
Identification
White-winged choughs are easily recognised but often mistaken for "crows" (such as the Australian raven). The white-winged chough is a large, black bird—at about 45 cm (18 in) only a little smaller than a raven or a little larger than an Australian magpie—but has red eyes and a finer, slightly down-curved beak, similar to a European chough. These red eyes become swollen and brighter in colour when the bird is excited. In flight the large white patches in the wings are immediately obvious, and explain the descriptive part of their common name.<p>Their calls consist primarily of a grating alarm call and a descending piping call. The latter call is diagnostic for the bird in the wild, being significantly different in timbre and melody to that of other birds sharing their habitat.
Taxonomy
The white-winged chough was first described by French naturalist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1817 as Coracia melanorhamphos, other names given include Pyrrhocorax leucopterus by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1820, and Corcorax australis by French naturalist René Lesson in 1830. before the current name was settled by Gregory Mathews in 1912. The specific epithet is derived from the Ancient Greek words melano- 'black' and rhamphos 'beak'.<p>It is placed in the family known as the mud-nest builders or Corcoracidae, written as Grallinidae in older books before the removal of the genus Grallina to the family Monarchidae. It is one of two remaining species, with the apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea), which differs in appearance but exhibits many behavioural similarities. The mudnest builder family Corcoracidae itself is now placed in a narrower 'Core corvine' group, which contains the crows and ravens, shrikes, birds of paradise, fantails, monarch flycatchers, and drongos.<p>It is only distantly related to the red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) and Alpine chough (P. graculus), which are members of the crow family Corvidae. The similarities in appearance of dark plumage and downturned bill are the result of convergent evolution.
- Scientific name
- Corcorax melanorhamphos
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1817)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Corcoracidae
- Genus
- Corcorax
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Lessonia oreas
Tiny little terrestrial flycatcher, fairly common locally in open habitats of the high Andes, especially bogs and lakeshores. Feeds mainly by hopping on the ground, but perches readily on posts and fences. No similar species in range: male is black with a bright rusty back; female is dark sooty brown with a dull rusty back. In flight both sexes show whitish flash in wings (absent in Austral Negrito, which occurs in lowlands to the south).
Karoo Bustard
Heterotetrax vigorsii
A medium-sized, drab, gray-brown bustard with a plain face and black throat patch. Creamy wing patches are displayed in flight. Small groups prefer semi-arid Karoo and barren farmland, where they feed on plants and small animals. During the heat of the day it retreats to drainage lines, where they shelter under thicker cover. Often first detected by its dry, throaty, frog-like two-or-three-syllabled “kraak-krook” or “kraak-krook-kook” calls, which are sometimes echoed by other group members, creating a choral cacophony. Vocal in the morning and late afternoon.
Waterfall Swift
Hydrochous gigas
Largish dark swift with a stumpy body and a forked tail. As the name would suggest, associated with mountain waterfalls in forest areas; nests are placed close to the spray. Uniformly brown; larger and more long-winged than swiftlets. Sometimes forages in mixed flocks with other swifts, such as needletails.
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