MEGAFAUNA - The 45cm Pied Butcherbird sings like an Eastern Koel

A very interesting development has occurred and I am glad I was able to observe it. For months now I thought a Pacific (Eastern) Koel was hanging around, calling out even calling during the night. But today I saw what looked like a large white fronted bird on the fence across the road making the exact same sound as an Eastern Koel. I was not able to focus my camera quick enough to even get a photo. It certainly was not an Eastern Koel and only 2 species fit into the size category of what it could be: a Laughing Kookaburra and the 45cm Pied Butcherbird. It was not a Laughing Kookaburra. Kookaburras don't mimic sounds they hear. The bird in question was actually the large 45cm Pied Butcherbird.

However going back to when I first saw this 45cm Pied Butcherbird I remember it making all kinds of songs. I recorded what I thought was (until today) an Eastern Koel (The Koels that are in NSW anyway) but thought it strange as it was doing a lot of mimicry sounds. I've several videos like this taken in the last 3-4 or so weeks but one in particular I will add here (or to another post) as soon as I can find it on my pc.

This particular Pied Butcherbird is really hard to photograph. It seems to know when someone is taking it's photo and hides deeper into the tree canopy and goes quiet. It hides in the tree tops during the hottest parts of the day, and is impossible to see as it uses the outer leaves/branches as camouflage. It does call out and makes lots of sounds, which sounds like an Eastern Koel. When it is out feeding it doesn't keep still long enough to take a decent photo of it. it flies around town a lot but often I can't track it by it's calls. It seems to land on something and then call out. For most of the time it is quiet, especially during the first half of the day, but then it gets a bit vocal from about lunch time onwards.

The Pied Butcherbird sounds I've been hearing lately, especially today, tells me there are two of these birds in the area. I have no idea on the size of the other Pied Butcherbird but it's voice is the same but a little bit quieter. I heard them both calling out to each other from two different trees, at least 50 metres apart.

If these birds are coming together to breed then I need to keep a close eye on where they are coming and going to. But as the one I have seen, which I think might be a male, has attracted the female to his area it is possible I might get to see some nesting behaviour in the near future. I cannot be certain though that the two birds will even hang around the area to nest. They might move further away from the outskirts of town where it is peaceful and much quieter.

For two days in a row now the male? has been sighted across the road on the fence around 5pm. Tomorrow I will be prepared and hopefully get a video of the bird. Hopefully it will sing for me - wishful thinking on my part!

If nothing else it will be interesting to see what their chicks will be like and how big the female is. Or to at least get some decent footage of this male? bird.

MEGAFAUNA - The 45cm Grey Butcherbird is actually a Pied Butcherbird

MEGAFAUNA MEANS REALLY LARGE. However, it seems that some species of birds are getting larger and during the month of December 2012 I have seen 3 individuals of 3 separate species that are larger than normal. This post is about my first sighting - of a large Grey Butcherbird juvenile.

I was out the front taking photographs two days ago when I spotted a bird on the fence across the road. So I took a photo of it. It's of the oversized Grey Butcherbird again. That's what I first thought but looking at the bird now I've re-identified it as a Pied Butcherbird. The photos below shows how the bird has developed it's grey colouring over the passed month. It's colouring is not the same as in the video I took of it when I first spotted this bird back in December 2012. It's feathers are a really dark grey now and it's head is turning very dark grey too.

Click the photos to enlarge them.

Screenshot from video taken 18 December 2012.
The bird on a standard Hills Rotary clothesline.
This is what the bird looked like when I first
saw it.

The large Pied Butcherbird in the misty rain.

It is a sight to see this bird because it is so huge. With ex-tropical cyclone Oswald been and gone over Tenterfield, this and many other birds began to come back to the area 2 days ago (29 Jan. 2013) in the late afternoon. I only saw this Butcherbird for a few moments and didn't have the chance to take a second photo of it. I am happy to see this bird again as I know it has been hanging around the area since it first got here in December 2012.

Grey nor Pied Butcherbirds rarely beg for food from humans. They used to but not any more. Obviously their dependence on humans for food is obsolete and as a result nature has resumed it's course. With nature taking over and the birds fending for themselves and trying to find food the result is a much larger Pied Butcherbird species.

Whilst adding the first picture to this post, that the bird was on the clothesline in the photo, I decided to measure the length between each line whilst writing up this post. Then I came up with a more accurate length of this bird in real time. The Pied Butcherbird is approximately 1 and 3/4 lengths of one section of the clothesline when it's head is upright. One length is the distance between two horizontal green cords of the clothesline - that you hang clothes from. I'm actually guessing the bird is just under 1 and 3/4 lengths of the clothesline actually. The length between 3 cords (2 gaps in the clothesline where you'd hang clothes) is approximately 20.5 inches (give or takes 1-2 cms - the clothesline was wound up and I had trouble reaching it). Half that is 10.25 inches, half that is 5.125 inches, and half that again is 2.5625 inches.

The bird is approximately 3/4 of the total length of 20.5 inches. Therefore the Math is:

  10.25 inches
    5.125 inches
 + 2.5625 inches
------------------
  17.6875 inches (or about 45 cms) in length.

When the bird has it's head stretched out horizontally it is approximately 52 cms in length. N.B. The bird is not fully mature and am uncertain if it is still growing.

Pied Butcherbird details found on BirdsinBackyards website:

Minimum Size: 33cm

Maximum Size: 38cm

Average size: 35cm

A better screenshot from video taken 18 Dec. 2012.
The Grey Fantail in question that tried attacking it.

Now, if you think I am pulling the wool over your eyes and exaggerating on this bird's size, then come to Tenterfield and see it for yourself. It might take you a long while to find this particular bird as it moves around a lot but eventually you will see it. I am not exaggerating about this bird's size. I may be out by a few centimetres but that's about it. Pied Butcherbirds are not naturally about 45-52 cms in length, here or anywhere else in Australia but this particular bird is!

This is the beginning of climate change adaptations of birds in New South Wales. How large Pied Butcherbirds will become in the future is anyone's guess.

MEGAFAUNA - A 45cm Grey Butcherbird chick lost and alone

MEGAFAUNA MEANS REALLY LARGE. However, it seems that some species of birds are getting larger and during the month of December 2012 I have seen 3 individuals of 3 separate species that are larger than normal. This post is about my first sighting - of a large Grey Butcherbird juvenile.

My first sighting of this bird was on the 18th December 2012 at 9:03AM when I took this video. The bird happened to land on my neighbour Carol's clothes line then was attacked by a young Grey Fantail. Grey Butcherbirds are 24-30 centimetres in length and Pied Butcherbirds are on average 32cms in length. Pied Butcherbirds are common in Tenterfield and they are relatively small but Grey Butcherbirds are not common here anymore. They are both smaller than the local Australian Magpies.

This young juvenile bird was much larger than a standard sized Grey Butcherbird. It was the size of a Laughing Kookaburra - 45cms in length. This larger than normal young chick has been flying around the area frantically calling out to it's parents and continued to do so for more than a week afterward. Why it was separated from it's parents is anyone's guess. It is, I believe, still in the area as of 10th January 2012 (today). The bird appears to be able to fend for itself but it does not like being chased by smaller birds. I have not seen an adult Grey Butcherbird in the area since this video was taken on the 19th December 2012. The last time I saw an adult Grey Butcherbird was about 12 months ago.

N.B. 31 January 2013 - This is actually a Pied Butcherbird not a Grey Butcherbird.

MEGAFAUNA - A larger than normal male Australian King Parrot

The female is on the left, male on the right. I only had one opportunity to take a video or photos of this male. I opted for taking a video of him.
MEGAFAUNA MEANS REALLY LARGE. However, it seems that some species of birds are getting larger and during the month of December 2012 I have seen 3 individuals of 3 separate species that are larger than normal. This post is about my second sighting - of a large male Australian King Parrot.

On the 19th December 2012 at 7:53AM two Australian King Parrots landed in my neighbour Carol's bird feeder. I recognised the female as the daughter of the mated pair in Tenterfield. There are a total of 4 Australian King Parrots in Tenterfield now - a mum and dad, a daughter and a son. (As of today - 10th January 2013 there are none as the children have left the parents and are finding mates of their own or are probably nesting with their new mates.) All Australian King Parrots photos and videos I have, until the 19th December 2012 are of this particular family and of the generations before them. They all have been the standard size for a King Parrot, no larger than about 41 - 43cms in length.

However, when I first saw the male I was gobsmacked at the size of him. My mouth dropped at seeing him as Australian King Parrots are not supposed to be this large. He was at least 10-15cms longer than the female and was very lean. The female was fully grown and a standard size (roughly 42cm long) for a King Parrot. This bird was at least 55cm in length, if not more.

The male King Parrot was obviously not from Tenterfield rather from a nearby area close to Tenterfield. From whence he came I do not know. All I know is the male was huge bordering on the size of much larger Cockatoos. In all my time living in Tenterfield I have become familiar with the maximum size a King Parrots grows to. But seeing this male has made me think. It has made me think that Australian King Parrots can grow to much larger sizes perhaps in just a few generations.

What made the female choose this large male is anyone's guess. Maybe he was the only male around that wasn't taken? Maybe the female chose him because he was a larger than normal bird? Maybe the birds know something we humans don't and are chosing to mate with larger birds of their own species to help survive better in their environment.

The most interesting thing to see will be the offspring of these two birds. In time, hopefully, the parents will return to the area with their offspring.

MEGAFAUNA - Laughing Kookaburra with 30cm long tail

MEGAFAUNA MEANS REALLY LARGE. However, it seems that some species of birds are getting larger and during the month of December 2012 I have seen 3 individuals of 3 separate species that are larger than normal. This post is about my third sighting - of a Laughing Kookaburra individual.

This particular Kookaburra was first observed flying across my neighbour Carol's paddock in a south-east to north-west direction then landed in the Pine tree near where I was standing. The time and date observed is displayed on the photos themselves. It sat on a low branch about 6-7 feet above the ground. The bird landed in the tree about 20 feet from where I stood. It was alone and seemed to be avoiding other kookaburras in the area. It was silent never making even one cackle. It flew very low to the ground as it flew across the paddock, no higher than 10 feet off the ground.

I had to look twice at this bird as it was exceptionally long from head to tail. When I first saw this bird I didn't know what it was so I started taking photos of it and realised it was a Laughing Kookaburra. The kookaburra in flight had an exceptionally long tail (tail feathers) that were around 30cm in length. The local Kookaburras don't have that long a tail which made me think it wasn't a Laughing Kookaburra at first.

I did not want to make the kookaburra fly away by getting closer to it - which is what I would've had to do to get a photo of it's tail. The kookaburra only just flew into the tree and I did not want to scare it as it seemed pretty relaxed with me nearby just watching it. It did keep looking at me though. I was with my daughter and Carol's dog. The Kookaburra may have been keeping an eye on Carol's dog rather than me.

I have not seen this particular kookaburra before so I can safely say that it is from a nearby area, and possibly looking for a mate as it is not a juvenile. As it was silent and seemed to be avoiding other kookaburras this tells me it may possibly be a male. The local kookaburra family were about a kilometre or two away in an east to slightly south-east direction when these photos were taken.

I was in the right place at the right time for this kookaburra to show up and get these photos. The kookaburra sat there in the tree barely without moving for at least 10 minutes before I moved on.

The strange thing about all of this is not the kookaburra itself rather the length of it's tail. I have never seen a kookaburra with a exceptionally long tail, or any bird with an exceptionally long tail or body, and this was the third sighting of evolution in the making in one week. First a grey butcherbird, then a male Australian King Parrot and now a Laughing Kookaburra.

How widely spread (in New South Wales) this is with Laughing Kookaburras getting bigger is unknown right now. I have not read anything yet about Australian native birds getting bigger or smaller. Am I the first to record this phenomenon? Maybe this is a nearby local adaption to the weather and environment due to the ongoing drought?

I can't wait to see the offspring of this kookaburra to see how big they grow! I just hope this kookaburra stays in the area.