Alternative names: Australian Butcherbird; Collared Butcherbird; White-winged Butcherbird; Collared Crow-Shrike; Clouded Shrike; Tasmanian Butcherbird (cinereus)
- Cracticus torquatus
Identification
27 - 30cm. A medium-sized Butcherbird with a strong bill.
- Black top and side of head
- Bright white chin and throat
- Broad white half-collar on each side from throat towards middle of hindneck
- Prominent white spot on lores
- Dark grey upperparts with some streaking and mottling
- Narrow white band across rump (well visible in flight)
- Black tail with narrow white tip
- Mostly black upper-wing with narrow white stripe (innermost secondaries) and white patch (secondary coverts)
- Whitish underwings
- Off-white underparts with grey shading over breast
Females are smaller and have a similar plumage, sometimes browner than males. Juveniles are brown with buff streaks and a dark brown head.
Similar species
Silver-backed Butcherbird is similar but has black lores and a pale grey mantle.
Distribution
Found in south and east Australia including Tasmania.
Generally uncommon and patchily distributed. More common in Tasmania.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Three subspecies recognized:
- C. t. leucopterus:
- Southern half of Australia (except desert areas of Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory and western half of Queensland), east to east Queensland towards southern parts of Cape York Peninsula
- C. t. torquatus:
- From coastal southeast Queensland south to Victoria
- C. t. cinereus:
Silver-backed Butcherbird has been treated as conspecific with this species.
Forms a superspecies with Black-backed Butcherbird and Silver-backed Butcherbird and has sometimes been placed in genus Bulestes.
Habitat
Open forest, woodland, farmland and urban areas.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds mainly on insects but takes also small birds and nestlings, sometimes fruit, seeds and nectar.
Forages from a perch.
Breeding
Breeding mainly from August to January but has been recorded all year in response to rain in drier areas. Usually a solitary breeder, sometimes with helpers. The nest is a shallow, untidy bowl made of thing twigs and placed around 5 - 6m above the ground in a tree (usually eucalypt). Lays 3 - 4 eggs.
Movements
A territorial species, staying in its territory all year.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Grey Butcherbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 October 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Grey_Butcherbird
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
