Dusky Woodswallow
Juvenile, Eating a Sugar Ant
Ellura
Dusky Woodswallow
Juvenile, back
 
                      
Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Birds (Aves)
Order: Perching Birds (Passeriformes)
Family: Crow (Artamidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus)
This Photo:     Juvenile, With a Snack

Thank you Antoni Camozzato for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Flinders Ranges and elsewhere
The blue beak contrasts starkly with the drab-coloured body.
"Dusky" is a very appropriate name, it's almost a sooty-grey coloured bird.
There does seem to be some colour variation between the sooty-grey & chocolate brown.
We suspected the chocolate brown birds were immature/sub-adult; but Lauren Butler showed us a photo of a chocolate brown pair with their offspring. As such, it's just a colour variation. Fledglings are chocolate brown with "pin stripes". As the fledglings age, the "pin stripes" disappear.
They are different to the Little Woodswallow (Artamus minor) as they have a white stripe on their wings' leading edge which is visible when sitting. They are also larger, but this would be nearly impossible to determine unless they were standing next to each other or you were already familiar with the Little Woodswallow.

Copyright © 2014-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 24-Feb-2014
This species is classed as NT (Near Threatened) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)