Grey Currawong

Grey Currawong at our bird bath

When we first moved to our five acre property on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia some 30 years ago, we never saw Grey Currawongs in our garden or even in our small patch of Mallee scrub.

After a few years we occasionally heard them calling in the distance up the hill from our place. Seeing that the hill in question is about a kilometre away one can appreciate how far-reaching their call can go.

Some ten years ago - I am only guessing that it has been about that long - we would occasionally get one or two flying overhead. This might happen every few months or so. As the years elapsed their visits became more frequent, visiting almost every month but never staying for long - perhaps a few minutes at most.

About three years ago these visits were almost weekly and they would even bring their young into our scrub for a feed. More recently several of them have come right up to the house to visit one of our bird baths. The bath in the photo above is only about 5 metres from our dining room window. The proximity allows good photos without disturbing the bird.

I must say that seeing them up close like this is unnerving, especially when you focus on that evil looking yellow eye.

You can read more about Australian birds and see more photos of them on another of my sites called Trevor's Birding.