Habits
Usually singly or in twos. Young birds form mobile flocks of a few to sometimers several hundred in fall and winter.
Food
Insects, procured from the ground and pond snails.
Voice
Mated pairs duet. One bird utters a loud, metallic, 'knee-deep', the other responds immediately with 'tee-o-wee, pee-o-wit', with rhythmically opening wings, tails spread. A liquid, mellow, 'cloop, cloop, cloop' or 'clue-weet, clue-weet'. A brassy, strident, emphatic 'tee tee tee' uttered in alarm.
Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) [XC444510]
by Friends of Black Hill and Morialta Inc from Mascot, The Council of the City of Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia (call, song)
Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) [XC594030]
by Marc Anderson from White Cliffs, Central Darling Shire Council, New South Wales, Australia (duet, song)
Breeding Season (Guide)
August - November or almost any time after rain in arid and northern Australia.
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Nest
Bowl-shape cup, composed of mud, bound with grass, lined with hair, grass and feathers, most often placed on a horizontal branch of a gum tree, from 6 - 15 meters above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 5; pink-white, with red- and purple-brown spots and blotches; oblong-oval; about 29 x 21 mm. Incubation: 17 - 18 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 18 - 23 days.
Subspecies
Proposed and formerly widely used name picata is a synonym of nominate subspecies by first revision (both names were simultaneously published for same taxon). Relationships of genus disputed; has in the past been thought to be closely related to the two species of Struthideidae, but genetic analyses indicate no such relationship; on basis of recent genetic studies, has been placed in drongo family (Dicruridae) or in monarch-flycatcher family (Monarchidae), and apparent close affiliation with latter supported by details of skull morphology; has also been suggested as being related, on basis of examination of skulls, to butcherbirds and currawongs (Cracticidae) and woodswallows (Artamidae) and, from comparison of egg-white protein, to the crows (Corvidae). Although many modern taxonomists favour placement of present genus with Monarchidae, and despite some similarities in external morphology, the two differ markedly in behaviour and nest structure. For the time being, it is considered best to retain the present family as a separate entity, although close relationship to Monarchidae appears very probable. Smaller subspecies neglecta intergrades with nominate in northern Australia (in broad band from central Northern Territory east to western and north-central Queensland). Was for long considered not worthy of recognition, but recent study suggests that biometric differences significant. Birds of this species on Timor and in southern New Guinea of unknown racial identity. More study is needed.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
cyanoleuca (Latham, 1801) - All southern Australia, south to about 20° south, extending north along the Great Divide to the Atherton Tableland, north-eastern Qld.
neglecta Mathews, 1912 - Northern Australia, including Tiwi Island and Groote Eylandt, from south-western Kimberley Divide, northern WA, east to Cape York Peninsula, north-eastern Qld, south to northern Great Sandy Desert, WA, Upper Victoria River Drainage and Barkly Tableland in NT and coastal Gulf of Carpentaria Drainage, north-western Qld.
Similar Species
White-winged Triller (Lalage tricolor) which is much smaller and the bill and head are black, and the underparts white and Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis) which is more robust, has a hooked bill, black hood and a longish tail with white corners.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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