A Grey Butcherbird posed on a dead tree branch against an autumn-clear sky:

Butcherbirds are one of the types of black-and-white birds that frequent our area. They’re smaller than magpies and currawongs. When you manage to get a close-up view of a butcherbird’s beak, you notice the hook on the end. Magpies and currawongs have straight beaks without a hook:

Butcherbirds eat lizards, mice, small birds, insects, and other small creatures. The next photo shows the bird spotting some small creature in the scrub below. After I captured this shot, the bird swooped down then returned to its perch without its prey.

Common name: Grey Butcherbird

Scientific name: Cracticus torquatus

Approximate length: 30 cm

Date spotted: 8 May 2020 (autumn)

Location: Manly Dam National Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’33.1″S 151°14’47.9″E