Grey Shrike-Thrush
Grey Shrike-Thrush
The Grey Shrike-Thrush is a resident breeding bird species in our garden here in Murray Bridge, South Australia. We really enjoy its beautiful call with its rich tones and far carrying sound. This species is known for its call, but the pair resident in out garden is not all that vocal, even when breeding. In fact, during nesting they are almost silent around here, which tends to be the opposite in many other places.
The Grey Shrike-Thrush is a common and widespread species of bird found throughout most of Australia. There is some plumage variation from one location to another. In northern Australia there are three other Shrike-Thrush species, all of which are still on my “yet to see” list.
Despite this being a resident species in our garden, it has taken me until a few days ago to get a reasonable series of photos.
Grey Shrike-Thrush
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Love the call of thrush, they can mimic too, heard one up at Hattah finishing its song with a perfect rendition of the Crested Bellbird call.
The call of the Grey Shrike Thrush is amazingly rich and melodious. It is one bird call that I can made a very good imitation of - and I get some interesting replies from our local birds!
I wasn’t aware of their ability to mimic other birds.
we have a pair nesting in a pot plant on the wall of our lounge in Brisbane four eggs were laid on a once a day basis and so far two are hatched and are being fed by parents we notice in the feeding process the feeding birds swallow a white sack removed from the nest or hatchlings we have some photographs but I am not a very good photogrpher lots of calling accompanies the change overs when the birds are feeding we did see them build the nest and I have some reasonable photos of the 4 eggs inthe nest first two out third out not too sure what happened to the Fourth egg two of the hatchlings pop their heads up from time to time
Hi there Noel - welcome to my blog about birds. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. your observation of the white sack is quite interesting. This is actually a faecal sac (the poo of the babies) which the adult birds usually remove after feeding the young. On rare occasions they are known to swallow this sac.
Enjoy watching your new family.
thanks for the info onthe white sacs what we observed was the sacs swallowed by the feeding bird on almost all occasions they are mainly feeding what looks like a black beetle on one occasion a grasshopper on most occasions small lizards time qway from the nest varies from a few minutes to over 45 minutes there is some late feeding before sunset with periods of inactivity mid day back again later
We live on 10 hectares near Windsor, NSW. Some 10 years ago we commenced building a house, and a pair of thrushes built a nest in the rafters, laid a pair of eggs and hatched two young birds, Next year, a pair (the same?) built a nest, and we had to delay closing the eaves until they left. Next year, it was in a milk-crate on the verandah. Next, we moved the milk-crat, filled with wood off-cuts and scraps of material to a bar-chair next to our front door. The birds have just fare-welled their last hatching about the end of September. Three eggs were laid, of which two hatched successfully, the other apparently sterile. One (the male?) subsequently picked this up and flew off with it - we don’t know where.
Now, two weeks later, another(?) pair seem to be renovating the nest for another clutch. Do pairs lay twice in a season, or is there an extended period and these are a new pair? We also have a different pair breeding in our garage, starting some 3 weeks after our first pair for this year.
I agree with the comments - their song is delightful, and consists of quite a number of different tunes we can identify - where the female calls the male to relieve her on the eggs, for instance.
Thanks for visiting my blog Malcolm.
Many Australian birds are known to have multiple clutches of eggs in one breeding season. Some species can breed up to 5 times if the conditions are right. From 1-3 clutches is quite normal.
Grey Shrike-thrushes are very cosmopolitan in their choice of a site for a nest too. They will use all sorts of natural structures as well as many artificial sites like buildings, built structures and so on. HANZAB records one nest inside a bucket hanging on its side in a tree. Another nest record states that the same nest site on a concrete support under a bridge was used 15 times in 8 years. It didn’t state whether it was the same pair each time. They will reuse or refurbish the nests of other species too. They seem to be very adaptable.
Reference: HANZAB: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds Volume 6.
The Shrikes came back to the same nest around the16Th of September
and followed the same pattern of going away with one calling and coming back to change shift by or on the 22Nd Sept 1 egg 23Rd 2 egg 24Th sept 3 egg we continued to watch the pair exchange places .we were away for two weeks from the 6Th of October
when we arrived home the nest was empty with all eggs gone we can’t tthink they hatched not sure since then we have heard a few calls but no returns to the nest photo of the nest onthe11Th of October shows a n empty clean nest we are still waiting Noel and Conny
Hi there Noel,
There are two possibilities for what has happened:
1. The eggs have hatched and the young have flown off. The eggs take about 17 days to hatch and the nestlings leave the nest (fledge) after about another 17 days.
2. A predator has eaten the nestlings. Predators include magpies, currawongs, crows, ravens, butcherbirds, cats, snakes and even lizards. The death rate with baby birds is very high. Most species compensate for this by having multiple broods - up to 5 - in the one season. With the Grey Shrike Thrush they can breed from July to Feb if the conditions are right (eg enough food).
Hi
We had a pair nesting in my horse gear shed in an upturned helmet hanging on the wall. They raised several young but unfortunately one got caught in the nesting material. We found it hanging upside down from the nest dead unfortunately. Another left the nest successfully but landed in a tray of water that one of my pot-plants stand in. It was unable to get out for some reason and once again we found it to late, still alive but it died shortly thereafter. We were quite upset, then another one made a mad dash into our dining room door and killed itself. We were really upset now. Have tipped out water from dish and covered the doorway so here’s hoping the next lot are more successful. They make quite a variety of calls here. We just love them.
Cheers Vicki
Hi there Vicki,
Thanks for stopping by and for leaving your comments.
Your experiences are sad indeed. What most people don’t realise - unless they think about it - is that the attrition rate for young birds is very high. For this reason, many species breed 2-4 times every season, each time laying 2-5 eggs. This is in the hope that several will survive to reach maturity.
For example, there have been studies of magpies showing that about 75% of young magpies die in their first year. If a magpie survives the first year, it is likely to live 5-15 years and some up to 20 years.
While this a very sad statistic from a human point of view, it is the harsh reality of survival in the wild. I don’t get all that upset with predators taking eggs or young because it helps them to survive. What really saddens me is road kill and accidents like flying into glass windows.
Thanks for sharing.