#Pied Butcherbird

[redrcs]

The new addition to the family.

The newest pied butcherbird. Its parents brought it around today to introduce it to me, and the cheese and rolled oats I put out for them.

[tbalderdash-art-blog]

Pied Month day 6! (missed day 5 for Woodpigeon Wednesgay). Butcherbird? More like butch lesbian bird!

Reference photo by Robert Myers

I'm on Cara, it's a social media for art that's against AI! Follow me @ tbalderdash

[ausbirdoftheday]

Todays bird of the day is the pied butcherbird! The butcherbird gets their name from their feeding habits - they impale captured prey on small branches before eating them. They share this title and behaviour with the shrike, but are unrelated, as Australia doesn’t have any native shrikes. They are related to the Australian Magpie (who aren’t corvids like other magpies) and share their swooping tendencies. They also have a lovely, layered song in contrast with their more violent behaviours

photo by me!!

[tsukouis]

Macaque hangin out with Pied Butcherbirds

(I am so fucking proud of this piece)

Speed paint

[tuxedo-birds]

Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis)

© Allan Johns

[dovemoulins]

just realised i forgot to post my bird pics from when i went to an ecology camp in south australia!!! so fun. i have a bunch more so i might do a part 2

[k20spock]

The Slay the Princess Voices as Birds

I'm not much of a voices guy but I do love biology and assigning animals to characters, so I am assigning all of the voices a bird species and explaining why I picked it. enjoy

Voice of the Hero: House sparrow

[ID: A photo of a male house sparrow perching. End ID.]

Hero is the one I struggled with the most and this bird is actually crowdsourced! It does fit though I think. Sparrows are associated with commonness and familiarity, fitting for a voice who’s always by your side. Some more modern interpretations of sparrow symbolism paint them as hardworking and honest too. I think an everyday bird/voice doing his best is perfect for Hero.

Voice of the Cheated: Seagull (No specific species in mind, but definitely a more urban species like a European herring gull)

[ID: A photo of a European herring gull with its beak open. End ID.]

Seagulls are very cheated birds. They’re considered pests for doing what they have to do to survive with their habitat severely altered by human activity and just happened to adapt better than a lot of other animals. I will forever defend seagulls. They’re also very loud, shrill, persistent birds, qualities I associate with Cheated.

Voice of the Stubborn: Cassowary

[ID: A photo of a Southern cassowary. End ID.]

Cassowaries are widely considered the most dangerous bird and while technically that’s not true (there are more recorded ostrich attacks), the reputation is not undeserved. They’re big, powerful, and can be vicious fighters capable of disembowelment and throat-slitting with their massive claws. Their name in the Biak language literally just means bird strong. 

Voice of the Cold: Northern shrike

[ID: A northern shrike perching on a branch with a dead mouse. End ID.]

By now I’m pretty sure everyone knows about shrikes but if you don’t, let me explain why I picked them for Cold with an alternate name for Northern shrikes: winter butcherbirds. Yeah shrikes are little songbirds known for impaling their prey on sticks as a convenient storage system. I picked Northern shrikes specifically because of that very Cold name, winter butcherbird, and the fact that they breed in the cold reaches of Siberia, Canada, and Alaska.

Voice of the Smitten: Albatross (again, not necessarily a specific species but if I had to pick I’d go with one of the two royal albatrosses for the name)

[ID: A photo of a Northern royal albatross in the water. End ID.]

Ok there’s so so many birds associated with romance so there’s just a plethora of things you could go with for Smitten but I went with an albatross for a few reasons. They’re known for mating for life, having elaborate courtship dances, and being extremely dedicated to their partners. Very much romance birds. They’re also birds that inhabit isolated areas, and are very naive to potential threats because they don’t live in places with natural predators. This made them easy targets for hunters and their feathers were used in garments, which makes me think of Smitten’s line about making a shawl from his feathers. The thing that really sealed the deal though is there’s also some really interesting symbolism associated with them. In literature, they’ve been used as a metaphor for a burden difficult to escape from with the phrase ‘an albatross around your neck’. This just fits so well with Happily Ever After I had to pick albatrosses.

Voice of the Skeptic: Great gray owl

[ID: A photo of a great gray owl on a branch, looking down at the viewer. End ID.]

Owls are associated with wisdom and knowledge, Skeptic is the voice who is the most determined to reason and puzzle his way out of this situation, owls aren’t actually any more intelligent than the average bird, Skeptic’s rigid thinking often prevents him from understanding their situation in a way other voices can. Besides, owls are just a bit spooky and associated with death, something I think fits with Skeptic’s gruff noir detective vibe. I’m not too picky on the exact type of owl, I just picked a great gray because I think they just look like they have Skeptic vibes. I could also easily be convinced of a little owl though, the species associated with Athena that really kickstarted owls’ association with wisdom in Europe and is also associated with death through popular legend saying its calls heralded the death of Julius Caesar. I can also understand why people would go with a crow, but I wanted to go with something different and I feel like the Narrator’s taken it already.

Voice of the Paranoid: Cockatiel

[ID: A photo of an alert wild cockatiel with a raised crest. End ID.]

This pick is one I can see people disagreeing with so let me just explain myself: cockatiels are parrots, yes, birds that don’t really fit with Paranoid’s vibe (and I gave a different parrot to another character already and I’m trying to have some variety here). However, cockatiels in my personal experience are very nervous, neurotic birds with very distinct fear responses. Namely, hissing and raising their crest. I also think it’s fun having Paranoid be a bird often kept as a pet (like what Nightmare’s planning to do!) and having him be a bird capable of mimicking speech. Perfect for repeating a mantra over and over!

Voice of the Hunted: Common pheasant

[ID: A photo of a male common pheasant. End ID.]

Pheasants are simply the birds I associate most with being hunted. They’re one of the oldest and most popular game birds in the world and their anti-predation strategies just boil down to fleeing.

Voice of the Opportunist: Common cuckoo

[ID: A photo of a common cuckoo perching on a branch. End ID.]

I am firmly against ascribing human moral values onto animal behavior, and this includes cuckoos. But like… they’re opportunists. Common cuckoos are obligate brood parasites, which means they lay their eggs in the nest of another bird, often laying eggs designed to look similar to the eggs of the host species. Once they hatch, cuckoo chicks will attempt to eliminate other eggs or hatchlings from the nest to get all the food and attention of the parents to themself. Their deception even continues to adulthood, adult cuckoos mimic the predatory sparrow hawks to ensure they aren’t attacked. Like come on. What else could Opportunist possibly be.

Voice of the Broken: Chicken

[ID: A photo of a chicken. End ID.]

I’ve got a few things in mind with this one. Firstly is that many chickens are raised for meat (which is not an inherently bad thing provided they’re treated ethically), and I think it suits Broken to be a bit of a “doomed” bird. But secondly is that chickens play a religious role in many cultures. In particular, they were a big part of Ancient Roman beliefs and practices. There was an entire chicken-based form of divination. The only other bird I can think of with as much association with religion are doves and they’re much more widely associated with peace and love which, respectfully, isn’t really Broken’s vibe, so chicken it is.

Voice of the Contrarian: Kea

[ID: A photo of a kea walking. End ID.]

The other parrot I mentioned earlier. Kea are parrots native to New Zealand known for their intelligence and love of fucking with people. They’re nicknamed “clown of the mountains” and will investigate and tear up anything which includes cars. They’ll tear up cars. For funsies. If you gave a kea a knife, I’m 100% sure it would throw it out a window.

And that's all of em! Maybe someday I'll draw designs based on these.

[audible-smiles]

Avian Pied Beauty

Behold: In no particular order, and for no particular reason, I give you thirty of the most dramatic, elegant, and visually interesting black-and-white bird plumages on planet Earth.

Pied harrier

2. Black-and-white warbler

3. Black-headed ibis

4. Black-and-white hawk-eagle

5. Black guillemot

6. Razorbill

7. Pied avocet

8. Magellanic penguin

9. Hairy woodpecker

10. Common loon

11. Snow goose

12. Black skimmer

13. Black phoebe

14. Australian Magpie

15. Australian pied cormorant

16. Pied kingfisher

17. Pied thrush

18. Oriental magpie-robin

19. African pied wagtail

20. Black-and-white mannikin

21. Pied crow

22. Oriental pied-hornbill

23. Pied bushchat

24. European pied flycatcher

25. Pied butcherbird

26. Pied falconet

27. Pied-crested tit-tyrant

28. Pied wheatear

29. Indian pied starling

30. Chinstrap penguin

[proton-wobbler]

Great Backyard Bird Off - Schedule & Info

Round One Schedule

Cosmopolitan - posted February 1st & 2nd - 14 polls

Europe - posted February 11th - 9 polls

Africa - posted February 20th - 9 polls

Australia - posted March 1st & 2nd - 20 polls

New Zealand - posted March 11th - 7 polls

Asia - posted March 20th & 21st - 14 polls

the Americas - posted March 29th & 30th - 16 polls

Eurasia - posted April 8th & 9th - 14 polls

Poll Info

There are 8 brackets, with 208 species featured! Ranges were determined either using the self-report feature added to the submission box or with eBird sightings. "Cosmopolitan" is a bracket involving species of birds which were found on at least three continents, regardless of which they were submitted for. "Eurasia" are birds which seem to appear equally between Europe and Asia (majority of the continent, not just Middle East). "the Americas" includes all of the Americas, with US birds removed- granted, some Canadian or Mexican birds can show up in the US, but they're not common enough backyard birds (imo) to have been disqualified.

Please-- feel free to advocate for whichever bird you vote for! I would love to get some more participation with this tournament, especially since this is a poll with popular bird species.

Polls will be a week long, and are tagged #Great Backyard Bird Off. All subsequent reblogs are tagged as #poll reblog. Be sure to block this tag if you want to avoid me spamming your dash. Any reblogs containing support for a species will be tagged #[species] support. Results will be tagged #poll results.

Bird Support Google Form

vvv Participant List under the Read More vvv

Cosmopolitan (28 species)

Black kite, Black-headed gull, Bohemian waxwing, Canada goose, Common buzzard, C. Chiffchaff, C. Kingfisher, C. Loon, C. Myna, C. Nightingale, C. Swift, Eurasian Collared-dove, Eurasian Hoopoe, Eurasian (Common) Kestrel, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, European bee-eater, European (common) starling, Great crested grebe, Great gray owl, Grey wagtail, Little grebe, Ring-necked pheasant, Red-backed Shrike, Rock Pigeon, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Western barn owl, Western cattle egret, White (pied) wagtail

Europe (18 species)

Tawny Owl, Spotless Starling, Red kite, Middle spotted woodpecker, Great spotted woodpecker, Fieldfare, European Stonechat, E. Robin, E. Herring Gull, E. Goldfinch, Eurasian Green Woodpecker, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Eurasian blackcap, Eurasian (Common) Blackbird, Dunnock, Crested tit, Common wood-pigeon, Eurasian Blue tit

Africa (18 species)

African Harrier-hawk, Bearded barbet, Blacksmith lapwing, Bokmakierie, Cape starling, Cape white-eye, Dark-capped bulbul, Hadada ibis, House bunting, Klaas' Cuckoo, Kwevoel (Grey go-away-bird), Nile valley sunbird, Purple-crested turaco, Red-winged starling, Southern double-collared sunbird, Southern masked weaver, Spotted eagle-owl, White-backed mousebird

Australia (41 species)

Yellow Wattlebird, Willie-wagtail, White-faced Heron, Welcome Swallow, Weebill, Tawny Frogmouth, Tasmanian Nativehen, Superb Fairywren, Sulfur-crested Cockatoo, Splendid Fairywren, Sooty Owl, Red-browed Firetail, Red wattlebird, Rainbow lorikeet, Peid currawong, Pheasant coucal, Pacific koel, Noisy miner, Masked lapwing, Magpie-lark, Little corella, Lewin's honeyeater, Laughing kookaburra, Grey fantail, Grey butcherbird, Gang Gang cockatoo, Galah, Eastern spinebill, Eastern rosella, Crimson rosella, Crested pigeon, Crescent honeyeater, Bush stone curlew (thick-knee), Brown thornbill, Black swan, Bell miner, Austarlian ringneck, Australian magpie, Australian Ibis (Bin Chicken), Australasian Swamphen (Pukeko)

New Zealand (14 species)

Kaka, Kakaruwai (South Island robin), Karearea (NZ falcon), Kereru, Koekoea (Long-tailed Koel), Korimako (NZ bellbird), Yellowhead, Piwakawaka (NZ Fantail), Riroriro (Grey Gerygone), Satin Bowerbird, Silvereye (Tahou), Titipounamu (Rifleman), Tomtit, Tui

Asia (28 species)

Asian Koel, Azure-winged Magpie, Black-collared Starling, Brown-eared Bulbul, Colombo (House) Crow, Common Hill-myna, Eastern Buzzard, Japanese Robin, Light-vented Bulbul, Mandarin Duck, Masked Laughingthrush, Olive-backed Sunbird, Oriental Magpie-robin, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Palau Fruit dove, Palla's Gull, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Red-billed Blue magpie, Red Junglefowl, Red-whiskered bulbul, Ruppell's Weaver, Southern Hill-myna, Spotted dove, Swinhoe's White-eye, Whistling Green-pigeon, White-rumped munia, White-spectacled bulbul, Yellow bittern

The Americas (33 species)

Austral Thrush, Bananaquit, Blue-and-white Swallow, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Bushy-crested Jay, Canada Jay, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Chimango, Clay-colored Thrush, Common Potoo, Crimson-fronted Parakeet, Eared Dove, Great Kiskadee, Great Thrush, Green-backed Firecrown, Green-headed Tanager, Hoatzin, Lesson's Motmot, Masked Water Tyrant, Pacific Hornero, Pale-breasted Thrush, Plain Parakeet, Red-rumped Cacique, Ruddy Ground Dove, Rufous Hornero, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Russet-naped Wood rail, Sayaca Tanager, Southern House Wren, Southern Lapwing, White Bellbird, White-crested Elaenia

Eurasia (28 Species)

Black Redstart, Blue Rock thrush, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Common Chaffinch, Eurasian Bullfinch, Eurasian Bittern, Eurasian Jackdaw, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian Magpie, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Eurasian Siskin, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Eurasian Treecreeper, Eurasian Wren, European Greenfinch, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Hawfinch, Hooded Crow, Long-tailed Tit, Mistle Thrush, Northern Lapwing, Rook, Song Thrush, Spanish Sparrow, Yellowhammer

[ithinkthiswasabadidea]

This curious pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis) joined me for lunch at work today

Hopped away before I could offer a crumb of sandwich :')

[anonsally]

Day 7 in Australia

Today, Wife and her sister had booked a spa afternoon, so I got to have some quality birding time!

Wife's brother-in-law took me to first to a fancy bakery called Lune that specialises in croissants and related pastries. Since we got there after noon, they had run out of the morning bun I would've otherwise ordered, but I got an almond croissant which I snacked on later in the afternoon. It was excellent, though perhaps a bit overpriced.

Then he dropped me off at Sydney Park, which has some wetlands and large ponds and consequently also has some high-quality birds that were easy to see (as opposed to the little songbirds that one can only get brief glimpses of amongst the leaves in a tree).

It was early afternoon when I arrived and thus the worst time of day for birding. However, in 2.5 hours in the park I still managed to see 15 species of birds (albeit including a rock (feral) pigeon and a lot of noisy miners), including at least one that was brand new for me: the dusky moorhen. There were also Pacific black ducks, which was satisfying because that was my bird of the day on Merlin, crested pigeons (which have a comical hairdo), Australasian swamphens, including a fluffy baby!, Australasian darters (fancy!), a little pied cormorant, lots of little black cormorants, many Australian ibises in something like their natural habitat (so they weren't so bin-chickeny), an Australian pelican, gray butcherbirds, Australian magpies, Willie-wagtails, welcome swallows, and some sort of martin (not sure if it was a tree martin or a fairy martin. They're just too fast to get a good look at.). I managed to get decent photos of a few of the birds. I also saw a few turtles sunning themselves on a log.

Then I walked back home, which took about 45 minutes because I was tired and walking slowly (plus I stopped in a couple of health food shops and bought myself a chocolate covered frozen banana to snack on). It was nice to have to navigate myself, since I've mostly just been following Sister-in-law and not paying attention to where we are. Of course I had my phone and could use the map.

Wife and Sister-in-law got home a few minutes after me, and we relaxed for a bit before putting away the laundry and then having a low-key dinner. SIL's husband came home and joined us partway through. Then all of us except Wife, who's a bit under the weather, went to the flat where his brother is staying in Neutral Bay (also where we stayed the first time I came to Sydney). We will be celebrating New Year's there (the balcony has a view of Sydney Harbour), and we wanted to bring some supplies over ahead of time since we'll be riding the bus there tomorrow evening. The baby was awake and a bit hyper! Her parents were... not hyper!

[sedgewick-gayble]

i was thinking about the art tracy did of all of the lackadaisy characters as different dog/canine species and i thought about doing the same thing but with birds. bc i like birds...

i want to draw this eventually but art block is killing me rn

Rocky Rickaby - Blue Jay

I've had this AU in mind for a while now and Rocky was probably the one that took the longest for me to settle on a decision for- the blue feathers integrate the blue in his design from his eyes and suit, he keeps his stripes, and the white and black on his face align well with his Anthro design (i could also see the black stripes above the beak curving further up to make his eyebrows idk)

Freckle McMurray - European Robin

I have really mixed feelings on a european robin for him but it's the closest thing to his fur pattern I could find and it's also soft and cute and fluffy. It works

Ivy Pepper - Gray Catbird

I could've gone with practically any gray bird for Ivy since her design is so simple but...they're called CATbirds!!! And they meow!!!! I had to

Mordecai Heller - Pied Butcherbird

The only little tweak I'd make is specifically making him a pied butcherbird with luecism so that you could add in the additional white markings on his face (his eyebrows, undereyes and maybe a bit around the beak). I also think it's funny that they're called butcherbirds and his surname means butcher

Nico Savoy - Harpy Eagle

On top of the flat, ovular face and the light gray feathers on the head + the dark gray feathers on the top of the head all lining up with his anthro design, harpy eagles are FUCKING HUGE which just makes it make more sense to me in my mind. They're massive it's crazy

Serafine Savoy - Secretary Bird

It's perfect. The white and black feathers matching her fur and even the red markings around the eye?? Spot on. It speaks for itself

Mitzi May - Mourning Dove

Not sure how to explain my thought process with this other than...she's mourning Atlas. So she's a mourning dove. And the colors kinda match

Viktor Vasko - Red-Shouldered Hawk

I was torn between a red shouldered hawk and a red tailed hawk but red shouldered hawks are more primarily orange and they also have the black markings on the face that match Viktor (especially the ones around his snout)

Also not pictured here bc I got lazy but Atlas is a great horned owl, Wick is a mallard duck and Lacy is a swan :> thats all i have atm

(@themissingrainfallkingdom !!)

[redrcs]

A walk around Eumungerie

Mallee Ringneck parrots

Pied Butcherbird

Pink Galah

Australian Raven

[dinosnaps]

I spent ages with the bird book trying to decide what kind of butcherbird this is, and then it became exceedingly obvious as soon as I looked at the distribution map

So, here is a Pied Butcherbird. I rather love them, with their dapper beaks

[drhoz]

Cooleenup Island Species List - BIRDS - June 9th to 11th 2023

12C-18.5C, 2.4mm-12.5mm rain, strong wind on Sunday

(taxonomic order and nomenclature follows Clements, version 2022)

Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa Mallard Anas platyrhynchos Common Bronzewing Phaps chalcoptera Laughing Dove Spilopelia senegalensis Eurasian Coot Fulica atra Silver Gull Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia Greater Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii Australasian Darter Anhinga novaehollandiae Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo Pied Cormorant Phalacrocorax varius Great Egret Ardea alba White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae Australian Ibis Threskiornis molucca Yellow-billed Spoonbill Platalea flavipes Swamp Harrier (immature) Circus approximans White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus Galah Eolophus roseicapilla Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea Australian Ringneck Barnardius zonarius Redcap Parrot Purpureicephalus spurius Splendid Fairy-wren Malurus splendens Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata Spotted Scrubwren Sericornis maculatus Inland Thornbill Acanthiza apicalis Western Gerygone Gerygone fusca Black-faced Cuckooshrike Coracina novaehollandiae Gray Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen Gray Fantail Rhipidura albiscapa Australian Raven Corvus coronoides Scarlet Robin Petroica boodang Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena Tree Martin Petrochelidon nigricans Silvereye Zosterops lateralis

[rhyperographer]

This is so hard! I am tempted go say the butcherbird but I love currawongs. Especially my local, the pied currawong.

They're beautiful, often mistaken for crows or magpies and cool as fuck.

pssttt if you see this post tell me what your favorite bird is