Grallina cyanoleuca
The Magpie-lark is distinctively marked in black and white. The thin whitish bill and pale iris separate it from other similarly coloured species. The adult male Magpie-lark has a white eyebrow and black face, while the female has an all-white face with no white eyebrow. Young birds have a black forehead, a white eyebrow and a white throat.
The name Magpie-lark is quite misleading, as the species has no link with either the magpies or the larks. However, the Magpie-lark is sometimes confused with the Australian Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen. While both species are black and white, the Magpie-lark (26 - 30 cm) is noticeably smaller than the Australian Magpie (38 - 44 cm).
The 'pee-o-wit' or 'pee-wee' call is frequently given as a duet, each bird raising its wings in turn, and has given rise to the colloquial name of Peewee.
This species is confined to Australasia, and is found throughout Australia (although only a rare vagrant to Tasmania), southern New Guinea and Timor. Magpie-larks are found in almost any habitat except rainforests and the driest deserts and are familiar urban birds. Non-breeding and young birds form large nomadic flocks, sometimes consisting of several thousand individuals, which move with the seasons (mainly north in autumn/winter and south in spring/summer).
The Magpie-lark is mostly ground-dwelling, and is usually seen slowly searching on the ground for a variety of insects and their larvae, as well as earthworms and freshwater invertebrates.
Magpie-larks build an unusual mud nest. During the breeding season both the male and female gather wet mud and construct a bowl-shaped nest on a horizontal branch, or similar site, often up to 20 m above the ground. The bowl is lined with feathers and grasses. The male and female birds often sit side by side and call alternately, each raising and lowering their wings as they do so. Magpie-larks aggressively defend their nest and territory, which may occupy up to 10 ha. Both parents share the incubation duties and care for the three to five young. If conditions are favourable, more than one brood may be reared in a year.
The Magpie-lark's mud nest had previously led to the species being closely linked with the mud-nest building members of the family Corcoracidae - the White-winged Chough, Corcorax melanorhamphos, and the Apostlebird, Struthidea cinerea. They are in fact placed in the family Dicruridae, which includes Monarchs, Fantails, and Drongos.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003
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