Grey Butcherbird
Every few days we hear the local Grey Butcherbird calling nearby. From time to time one of them will come into the garden.
Yesterday afternoon I was entertained by one individual calling regularly quite near to the house. This went on for nearly half an hour. I really enjoy hearing its rich, melodious call, especially up close like that.
The resident honeyeaters do not take the same view. Their warning calls indicate that they were upset by the presence of the butcherbird. Perhaps they have eggs or young in a nest somewhere (that I haven’t discovered yet). Grey Butcherbirds take delight in robbing a nest of either eggs or the chicks.
To learn more about this bird and to hear its lovely call, click here.
Here is a photo of a Grey Butcherbird I took some time ago.
Grey Butcherbird
Follow my Twitters
I also love the call of the Grey Butcherbird – even more so that of the Pied Butcherbird.
I agree with you Alan. The Pied Butcherbird call is absolutely amazing. Sadly we only get that species as an occasional visitor here at my home town of Murray Bridge. I have to go 50km or more north east to see one.
Many years ago I was visiting a friend who lived on the northern outskirts of Kalgoorlie. The bush started across the road. We followed the call of a PB for over an hour until we had good sightings. It was calling all through that time and is something I will not forget. Brilliant.
[...] bird up there… R: Gray like a catbird? M: No R: Gray like a titmouse? M: No R: Gray like a butcherbird?!? M: Maybe.. forget it, it’s only a chickadee. ROBIN: Only a chickadee?!? What do you mean [...]
Hi Trevor, what an interesting bird. Such a beautiful song too. I am curious, how large is this bird? It looks like it might be the size of our jays in the US.
Hi there Larry. Welcome to my blog about Australian birds. Thanks for stopping by and for leaving a comment and question.
The Grey Butcherbird measures 24 – 30 centimetres in size (10-12 inches). It is widespread but uncommon throughout most of Australia except Tasmania where it is common in some parts of its range. (Alan might like to comment on that because I’m only going by a field guide here – I have yet to visit Tassie.).
The Pied Butcherbird is slightly larger but with a different range, though it overlaps with much of the range of the Grey.
The Black Butcherbird is much larger (40-44cm) and is found in northern parts of coastal Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The Black-backed Butcherbird is similar in size to the Grey but is found only in far north Queensland on the Cape York Peninsula.
Hi… does this lovely bird attacks you if near nest?
I was walking with daughter at park …it attacked me twice on head and face. Left a big stratch on my face. It was this sort of bird. I was shocked and amazed why this sort of lovely bird attacked me.
I live at Edens landing Queensland. Attack happened at small park and oval at Edens Landing next to train station. I was not the only one who been attacked by this bird at that park.
Cheers
Hi there Leisa – thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences of Australian birds.
I have never heard of Butcherbirds attacking people so your observation is quite interesting. It sent me to my reference books and your experience is not uncommon – they do swoop and attack people. So I have learned something new – thank you. I doesn’t surprise me as they are closely related to the notorious Australian Magpie. Except they are smaller. There was probably a nest somewhere nearby.
They obviously can do some damage – as you painfully found out. I hope the wound heals quickly and that there has been no infection.
Now that I think about it – I too have been “swooped” by a butcherbird. I was having a relaxing lunch by Lake Hattah in NW Victoria some years ago. We were enjoying some of the produce of the Ouyen Bakery. A Grey Butcherbird sat on the branch nearby keeping a keen eye on my lunch. I turned my head ever so slightly and it swooped down and took my lovely sandwich out of my hand. Gave me the fright of my life.
At the moment our resident grey butchies are feeding two chicks. They come and sing in the front garden asking to be fed. It took us a little time to realise there were two chicks – we couldn’t understand how one baby was consuming its own body weight in mince
Interestingly most of the feeding is done by the male – the female is much more timid and tends to hide in the malus while the male sits on the gutter or fence post or overhead wires and expects the morsels to be delivered at regular intervals. They are very delightful and are not in the least fazed by the magpies and their babies who also come in to be fed. All this within 14kms of the Melbourne CBD.
I’ve just watched a grey butcher bird butchering a large mouse.
What was most impressive was that, after bringing down the mouse and knocking it about a bit the bird tried to fly off with it. Since the mouse was about the same size as the bird, I though it had no hope. To my surprise the bird dragged the mouse up one of our small trees to a branch, managed to flap over to the handlebars of my bicycle, then (just as I was setting up my camera) launched into a gust and took flight with mouse in beak. Very impressive.
it has alot of infomation about the Grey bucherbird
i love sam my bucherbird
Hi, I have heard that butcher birds attack other birds nests. Is this true?
Hi there Kelly.
Yes – you are correct, but it’s not the nest they are attacking, but rather what is in the nest. They will eat the young nestlings of other birds. On the whole however, they are mainly insectivorous. They will also eat small lizards and chase, catch and eat small birds.
If what they catch is too large to swallow, they will impale their prey on a thorn or twig and use that to hold their food while they tear away smaller bits to eat. Sometimes they might be disturbed and leave a bit behind on the twig. This could have given them their name because it looks like they’ve hung up some meat like a butcher.
We live about 80km south of Perth on 4 acres. We have had magpies and grey butcherbirds around for quite a few years. We feed them with cubes of dog sausage sometimes twice a day, usually once.
The maggies nested in a tree about 2m above where I walk to the shed. I put out dry cat food and rolled oats for the youngsters and not once did they even look like swooping on us. Just watched us walk below them. So they do react to kindness !! We even had one “Nigel” who would walk into the house. Did not see him for 2 years and then he returned on my wife’s birthday, April this year. She was delighted !!!
The butcherbirds were treated in a similar manner, one year I had two eating from my hand, but that has not been repeated as they disappeared for a year or two. They are back now (fed them 5 minutes ago)but still a bit shy. We love their song.
Hi there John – welcome to my blog about Australian birds.
We have no troubles with our resident magpies either. Only one swoop in 25 years – and that was my fault – I tried to imitate the call of one magpie and I must have used a swear word (or its equivalent). They can be endearing birds indeed.
The local Butcherbirds are occasional visitors to our 5 acre ‘garden’ (mostly mallee scrub). I love hearing their beautiful calls echoing through the scrub.
Most experts discourage feeding birds as they can become dependent on that food and if you leave, go on holiday, for example, they can be in strife. The food humans provide can also provide a very unbalanced diet. Occasional feeding is okay, but certainly not daily is the general consensus.
Providing water is a far better method of attracting and keeping birds in your garden. Again, let the water dry up from time to time so they don’t become totally dependent on it.
Enjoy your birds.
I just read the last post and you answered my question about feeding. I’ve been hand feeding the butchers and magpies for a while now and was growing concerned about their dependability on me. I’ll now taper off the feeding so they become independent again. Shame though as they bring an enormous amount of joy with them. They’re excellent communicators too and love to have a chat when they drop in!
We have a large deck at the back of our house where I have hanging baskets. A couple of grey butcherbirds have been regularily visiting us over the last few months. One has decided to nest in one of the baskets. She set up a nest a couple of weeks ago and we noticed this morning she’s laid an egg. My daughter is very excited. Our visiting bird seems quite undisturbed by us sharing the deck space. We sit down one end whilst she sits happily on her nest down the other end. I’m just wondering how our visitor will go once the baby(s) arrive.
Hi Phillipa – this comment was forwarded by John to me via email:
Hi Phillipa, Well, that is truly wonderful. I am always amazed at the contact we are sometimes fortunate enough to have with our “wild” life.
Some time ago I had a butcher bird eating from my hand (with a slow, cautious approach) and also a magpie that nested above our walkway.
So going on this limited experience, may I offer a suggestion or two. No sudden movements and talk to them. Every morning, put out a plate with some (raw) rolled oats and a bit of dry cat food, that is for the youngsters. Thay will love you for it.
Best of luck and keep us posted.
Regards
John
Hi, we have been trying to identify a bird that is nesting in the park just near our house that we walk through everyday. For the past month or so it has been regurally swooping and diving at us. This morning it got my brothers head and caused a great deal of bleeding. From looking at photographs it seems it is a grey butcherbird. We are in eastern suburbs of victoria. Might need to resort to umbrellas when walking through the park now!
Yes Tegan – they are known to swoop people – they are probably nesting somewhere nearby and just trying to protect the young.
The butcherbirds are usually not as aggressive as their bigger cousins the magpies. Magpies and butcherbirds are very closely related which explains this behaviour. The little hook on the end of the beak is what can cause injuries.
I hope your brother recovers quickly.
Hello Trevor, I’ve lived in the same block of units for 10 years. We live across from a park which is full of magpies and have never had any problem with the magpies swooping. For the last few weeks though I have been terrorised by very aggressive butcherbirds which seem to be nesting nearby and attack me as soon as I go out the front door on my bike or arrive home. It’s the first time I’ve had this experience and its very unnerving, stressful and annoying. Does anyone know how long I will have to put up with this for? Thanks.
Hi Duncan,
Thanks for stopping by. Magpies and butcherbirds have very bad reputations for swooping people – especially those on bicycles for some reason. Can you dismount down the street a little and walk the bike home the last hundred metres or so? Might be worth a try.
As you probably know they see you as a threat to their young in the nest. Once the young fledge (fly) the problem should be solved. They will leave the nest in 21-28 days after hatching.
Hi Duncan, I posted on this thread in mid sept after my brother got wounded by a swooping butcherbird in a park that my family walks through twice daily. i would say we had to put up with the swooping for about a month and a half. i found that if i could stare at the birds and face them they were less likely to swoop, also we tried holding an umbrella over our heads or swinging a bag around over our heads for protection.
Thanks Tegan. Luckily so far I’ve managed to avoid being wounded but they go at you so aggressively I’m not at all surprised to hear about the experience regarding your brother. I’ll be counting the days until they settle down and I can safely and without any anxiety enjoy the great outdoors! Cheers.
Good luck Duncan. I think my brother was the one who was wounded as he is so tall and probably posed more of a threat to them!
Hi
For many years we’ve had a family of 5 (now 6) Pied Butcherbirds living in and around our yard.
We love having them around and do give them mince.
They have a baby which left the nest about 2 weeks ago.
At least 1 of the butchies are feeding the baby but 2 are attacking it. We have seen them doing this on several occasions and now it has a large bald patch on the back of its head.
Does anyone know why would they attack their own family member, especially a baby?
We are worried for the baby.
Hi there Melissa,
Thanks for stopping by and for leaving a question.
I’ve not seen this behaviour in butcherbirds before and can find no mention of it in my reference books, so I’m a little at a loss as to what is happening. (This lack of information merely indicates that the species has not been extensively studied yet).
You say you have a family of 6 in your yard. Only two of these would be the parents, the others are probably their offspring from previous broods. These “helpers” are juveniles which will assist in feeding the newest brood. They will probably leave before the next breeding season and established their own territories.
The 2 attackers are still immature and probably see the newly fledged bird as a threat to their food supply – or the pecking order in the family. In human terms it’s sibling rivalry, I guess.
There is probably little you can do about it. If the baby is attacked so much it dies, the next brood should have better success as these “bullies” will probably have left home by then.
Depending on the season, the parents may have another brood over summer.
Keep me posted, please, as this is interesting.
Hi Trevor
Thankyou for your reply.
You are right, 2 of the birds are the parents and the 3 others are the offspring. 1 was born about 4 years ago and the other 2 about 2 years ago. Then there is the baby.
It has been 2 weeks today since we have spotted him. There are a lot of trees in the area plus a large paddock and a river with more trees across the road and a park nearby, so he could still be around. At least we hope so.
In the days leading up to his ‘disapperance’, we spotted him in and around our yard a fair bit but before that we hadn’t seen him for at least a week. We did notice his mother was close by at all times which was good but he was still being harassed sometimes.
We still see the other 5 on a daily basis.
We haven’t given up hope off seeing him again and will let you know if puts in an appearance.
Regards
Melissa
Thanks for the update Melissa.
We have had a great deal of fun with an immature grey butcherbird (Butchy)that suddenly arrived on our doostep on its own in Jan 2010. It joined in with the magpie family of 5, myners and honey eaters. Butchy eats light cheese and dog pellets fed in small amounts 3 times a day!! He sings loudly and wakes us up outside our bedroom window. We watch him play with the “hanging toys” that we have put around the veranda for him. He never ceases to delight us. He flew into our office twice and landed on the computer screen. He came through the door into our bedroom but took flight when I rushed to switch the ceiling fan off. He sits on the cars and tractors and follows us around. He waits in anticipation a few inches away whilst I am gardening waiting for worms and grubs to be fed to him!! Nothing scares him. Even the loud noise of the tractors and hammering seem to attract his attention and he pitches up to observe what’s going on!
One day, recently, an adult male grey butcherbird came looking for him and kept dive-bombing him. When I shooed the adult away he did make a swoop on me, once. I figured it was his father or an interested male. Still Butchy hung around us until 3 days ago when he never came in for his snacks! My husband and I were so upset and we kept calling his name. Today whilst sitting in HIS favourite chair, hoping he would come back, I looked up and there he was in the palm tree. I rushed inside the house to get a morsel and as I sat down he landed on my lap as usual and ate his mince. We were so delighted to see him back.
My husband has spotted him today with an adult butcherbird who are singing to each other. Maybe it’s Butchy’s Dad taking him back to his territory to help the family as it is getting close to winter and breeding time. Or maybe he has found his/her partner in life!
We hope he will keep coming in to visit but will take the advice from others and stop feeding him. Although, there is no shortage of insects around and I don’t believe he will starve if we go away. We have watched him catching moths and lawn grubs. However, we have found a few dead birds in the tree forks aound the house (2 rainbow lorikeets and 2 pale headed rosellas) so it is probably a good thing that the grey butcherbirds move a little further away! We were not sure if it was the magpies dealing with invaders but from the comments above, wenow know it must be one of the BBirds! It will be very interesting to see if he continues his/her friendship with us once we stop feeding him-if we can get ourselves to do that.
Immature Grey Butcherbirds are the most fascinating and entertaining birds, highly intelligent and brave. However,we will take care when walking in their territory during breeding season! Thanks for all the info and advice! Many of our q’s have been answered on this site. Well done!
Hi there Cathy,
Thanks for sharing your fascinating insights into this wonderful bird species. It must be a wonderful delight to have a wild bird as an important part of your life.