Although ravens are reputed to be among the world’s smartest birds, I’ve discovered the black currawongs that visit my garden in winter can show them a thing or two.
The “mountain jays” – as they are known in country districts – easily outsmart the forest ravens in the contest to be first to the cheese that I put out for the birds each morning.
The currawongs have learned over time not to wait for the cheese to land on the lawn when I toss small chunks of it from the kitchen window. They merely catch it in mid-air in an amazing feat of aerial agility. And each time they leave the grounded ravens dumbfounded.
I’ve watched the currawong trick for years and the subject has been raised in recent weeks by a reader who has also noticed the antics when feeding the two currawong species in Tasmania, the grey and black currawong, that come to his garden. He said that, like the ravens, the grey currawongs had never mastered the skill, and merely waited for the food he put out to hit the ground if the rival species had not got there first.
The reader was engaging in a little citizen science, made easier by the fact that he could tell the difference between the two very similar species. On that score, the black currawong as its name suggests is black, with just touches of white at its wing and tail tips. The grey currawong is also black – the “grey” refers to the colour of the mainland subspecies – but has more extensive white in the wings, and a white underside to the tail.
The grey currawongs tend to be resident in the Waterworks Valley where I live and the skirmishes between the two species – joined by the ravens when there is cheese to be had – happens in late autumn and winter when the black currawongs leave their favoured habitat of the high country as the severe winter weather sets in.
They announce their arrival in Hobart’s more leafy suburbs with a trumpeting call, distinct from the “clinking” sound of their cousins.
People unfamiliar with birds can sometimes confuse currawongs with ravens, but the raven is easily told apart by his fearsome dagger bill and white eye.
Ravens include carrion as a large part of their diet along with creatures they kill. The currawongs eat seeds and fruits in season in a varied diet, also insects and the eggs of other birds.
It is the raven’s unwieldly bill that in flight possibly makes it difficult for them to catch cheese or any other food tossed in the air. So perhaps the ravens are not so unintelligent after all. And the same with the grey currawongs. When I tried my own citizen science project, some of the grey currawongs were just as adept at catching the cheese in mid-air as the black ones.