A Large Flock of White-winged Choughs
White-winged Choughs, Botanic Gardens, Canberra
At the moment I am working outside in the cool of the evening on my laptop. I’d just sat down to do something with no thought about birding when I was distracted by a flock of White-winged Choughs in our garden.
Normally we have a family groups of about 8 regularly patrolling the grounds, feeding and minding their own business.
I was attracted by the extra noise being created by this flock this evening. I looked up and counted at least 16 birds flying past, all making quite a racket. This number is a little unusual as normally family groups around here number from about five to a dozen, rarely more.
All I can assume is that two neighbouring groups have met where their territories cross over. That was the probable cause of the noisy and larger than normal group. Whatever the reason, they have now moved on and I can no longer hear them. Their territories can cover many hectares.
The photo above was taken a few weeks ago a long distance from here in Murray Bridge. It was taken during a visit to Canberra Botanic Gardens.
Interesting bird the chough Trevor, I once saw a concentration of close to two hundred birds on a back bush lane and abutting paddocks. it seems they can occasionally get together for a jamboree! This mob must have been made up of every chough for miles around.
That certainly is a huge gathering and must be quite unusual. HANZAB reports occasional gatherings of that size have been recorded elsewhere and suggests that it is in response to an abundant source of food, especially in pastures, crops and grasslands. It was also observed that when disturbed, each family group flew off in a different direction, obviously heading for its own territory.