Images of Canberra - Currawong and berries

Okay, now that has kind of ruined the picture for me ….

@ #12, currawongs are devious.

While a native species and so inherently virtuous, like rats they do very well in the suburbs.

I have seen them making off with chicks (mummy/daddy birds in hot pursuit), dead rats, eggs, and of course truck loads of berries (which are then crapped onto your clothes line). I once saw one eat a hatchling in my front yard. One can only hope it was a much less virtuous, but equally prolific, indian myna or starling.

Not very savoury, but surely a winner in the evolutionary race.

Nice pic, well caught 🙂 The currawongs are going for the red berries on my nandinas at the moment.

Well, there goes my twenty cents!

: |

the tree is a Crataegus, probably Crataegus phaenopyrum. Would be a great small tree except it gets hit with pear and cherry slug and like Cotoneaster is considered invasive

An African or European swallow?

Ah, the fjords …. *sigh* … Why did you have to mention the fjords??

Looks like a Norwegian Blue to me.

At least he’s not pining for the fjords!

Surely the bird is a Scrumper. It has even been caught in the act!

That’s typical of you melodramatic types, trevar! You always see a raven where there’s a currawong, don’t you? Life is not all daggers and ravens, you know …. It has currawongs and berries in it too.

; )

Ravens are bigger and don’t have white feathers.

I thought those big black ones were Ravens!?!?!?

But the berries are so ripe … and sweet … and, oh, sorry!

lol

That bird has a devious look like its stealing fruit from the farmers orchard.

I hate Currawongs.

That is not a magpie

Oh, I love this picture, and would in fact wager a grand total of twenty cents that ant is correct in the assertion that this is, in fact, a crabapple tree!

It’s also a great example of one of the environmental issues associated with exotic gardens. The berries provide a decent supply of food for the Currawongs over the winter months – a time when they would have traditionally moved west and east away from the Great Divide. Because they stay, they are then well placed to raid the nests of other birds come spring which puts a lot of pressure on our other native species.

Would a crabapple be fruiting this time of year?

Could it be a Crabapple? Certainly larger berries than a cotoneaster.

Some leaves seem to have jagged edges; others not (though I might be a bit blind here). I wonder if we’re looking at a cotoneaster hedge with another sort of shrub (with jagged edged leaves) growing within it?

That was my first thought but wrong shaped leaves.

Looks like a cotoneaster tree.

Looks like a Currawong to me (the bird, not the tree). Dunno about the berries.