Choughed

A group of White-winged Choughs visited for awhile this morning, scratching through the leaf litter and the odd flight to some low branch. Apart from the small sign of white on the wing the name looks like a misnomer, until they fly and the large white wing patch is visible.

Chuffed with Choughs

A bird that visits every now and then, but always in a family group of around 8 to ten individuals, is the White-winged Chough corcorax melanorhamphus. They are one of the two Australian mudbuilders, so named for their nest which is a large mud bowl shape placed on a horizontal limb of a substantial tree. They are very social and the family group is usually seen striding through the leaf litter chatting away to each other as they search for food. They generally do a lot of walking punctuated with short flights from one feeding area to the next.

 

Although they have a superficial appearance to the European Chough, the White-winged Chough is not part of the crow family, although sometimes mistaken for crows or currawongs. The white part of their common name comes from the large white patch on the wings that is visible in flight. 

The chattering of the group today let me know they were around and they stayed long enough for a couple of quick shots. The one above as they are normally seen and the one below when it moved to a branch to do some preening.