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 LC    Grey Butcherbird* Id (Atlas):
    Cracticus torquatus

Description (10)
Image of Grey Butcherbird
 

Other Names (World)
Grey Butcherbird, Gray Butcherbird, Butcherbird, Australian Butcherbird, Grey-backed Butcherbird, Gray-backed Butcherbird, Collared Butcherbird, Silver-backed Butcherbird, Silver-backed Southern Butcherbird, Tasmanian Butcherbird, White-winged Butcherbird, White-winged Grey-Butcherbird, White-winged Gray-Butcherbird, Clouded Shrike, Grey Shrike, Gray Shrike, Jackass, Grey Jack, Gray Jack, Derwent Jack, Tasmanian Jack, Whistling Jack, Grey Jackass, Gray Jackass, Derwent Jackass, Tasmanian Jackass, Whistling Jackass, Collared Crow-shrike, Whistling Dick, Durbaner, Coolady, Coolidie, Koolide

Family
Artamidae (Woodswallows And Butcherbirds)

Size
26 - 30 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Latham, 1801)

Derivation
Crac'-tic'-us - Gk, cracticos, loud-voiced: tor-qua'-tus - Jean R. Quoy (1790 - 1869), French scientist and explorer

Habitat
Margins of rainforests, woodlands, coastal and inland scrubs, timbered watercourse, roadsides, parks and gardens.

Range (Guide)
Australia (B).

Image of Range of Grey Butcherbird
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Singly, in pairs or small family groups.

Food
Insects, mice, small reptiles, and small birds and their eggs and occasionally berries.

Voice
Varied and rich, including musical and mello and also harsh calls. Perhaps one of the finest of all Australian bird calls.



Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (105)...)

 
Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) [XC41588]
     by Paul Jacobson from Capertee Valley, NSW, Australia (song, song phrase repeated)

 
Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) [XC588688]
     by Mathew B from Aspley, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia (dawn song)

Nest
Cup-shaped, composed of twigs, rootlets and vine-tendrils, lined with rootlets and dead grass, in the fork of a tree, about 2 - 14 meters above the ground.

Eggs (Guide)
3 - 5; brownish green, speckled with red to brown spots; oval; about 31 x 23 mm. Incubation: 24 - 26 days; by female.

Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 28 days.

Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Black-backed Butcherbird (Cracticus mentalis).

Subspecies argenteus and colletti sometimes treated as a separate species. Subspecies colletti often included within argenteus, but seems reasonably distinctive. Nominate subspecies intergrades with leucopterus on western slopes of Great Dividing Range from southern Queensland south to Otway Range, in Victoria.

Proposed subspecies latens (Uwins I, in northern Western Australia) is a synonym of argenteus.

The following 5 subspecies are recognised:

  • torquatus (Latham, 1801)   -  Coastal south-eastern Queensland south (mainly east and south of Great Dividing Range) to Victoria. .
  • argenteus Gould, 1841   -  Western Australia (Kimberley region east from Yampi Sound and mouth of Fitzroy R) and marginally north-western northern Territory (east to mouth of Victoria R), south to Great Sandy Desert. Considered by some to be a subspecies of Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) (argenteus).
  • colletti Mathews, 1912   -  Coastal northern Territory from Victoria R almost to eastern tip of Arnhem Land, south to northern Tanami Desert in the west. Considered by some to be a subspecies of Silver-backed Butcherbird (Cracticus argenteus) (colletti).
  • leucopterus Gould, 1848   -  Southern half of Australia south of 20° southern (except for desert areas of western Australia, South Australia, northern Territory and western half of Queensland), in east extending north in eastern Queensland (west of Great Dividing Range) towards southern Cape York Peninsula.
  • cinereus (Gould, 1837)   -  Tasmania.


Similar Species
Black-backed Butcherbird (Cracticus mentalis) which has a darker, black back, lacks white lores and has a medium to wide white collar and Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis) which has a darker, black back, lacks white lores and has a broad white collar.


References
See References.

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


Files:
JPG files for Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) - 10 filesMP3 files for Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) - 1 files


More Information

BirdLife International

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