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Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (Image ID 46686)
Photographed byMichael Hamel-Green on Mon 14th Jun, 2021 and uploaded on Tue 15th Jun, 2021 .
Resolution1800x1139
Viewed331
ID46686
CommentThis Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike was perched at some distance high up in a tree. After contemplating its options, it chose to swoop down in my direction. Apparently, many, if not most, tend to migrate northwards in autumn, looking for warmer climes and perhaps more abundant insect food sources, so I was lucky to see this one, one of the hardier tough-out-the-Victorian-winter members of its tribe. Its all-black face suggests an adult of the melanops sub-species that breed on the mainland compared to the novaehollandiae which breed in Tasmania. They seem to prefer more open woodland habitats such as where I found it, Woodlands Historic Park, with its open expanses scattered with River Red Gums, worryingly christened “widow-makers” for their limb-shedding propensity (not far from my mind as I stood below one for this photo). I have often wondered why these birds are called cuckoo-shrikes when they are not in fact cuckoos. All is explained by Pizzey and Knight: “Neither cuckoos nor shrikes…they take their name from their shrike-like bills, cuckoo-like form, and undulating flight” (Field Guide to Birds of Australia). An unfortunate case of misleading nomenclature. These beautiful creamy-plumaged charcoal-faced Cuckoo-
Shrikes do not engage in deceptive laying of eggs in others’ nests. They do their own hatching and parenting, thank you.
EquipmentNikon Z7ii, Nikon 300mm PF f4, TC1.4, focal length 420mm
ISO 1250
1/1250th f11
LocationWoodlands Historic Park, Victoria
Keywordsin flight, adult
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