| Artamidae | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dusky Woodswallow. | ||||||||||
| Scientific Classification | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Subfamilies | ||||||||||
|
Artaminae Cracticinae |
The family Artamidae gathers together 20 species of mostly crow-like birds native to Australasia and nearby areas.
There are two subfamilies: Artaminae, the woodswallows, are somber-coloured, soft-plumaged birds that have a brush-tipped tongue but seldom use it for gathering nectar. Instead, they catch insects on the wing. They are agile flyers with large, pointed wings and are among the very few passerinee birds that soar. One sedentary specias aside, they are nomads, following the best conditions for flying insects, and often roosting in large flocks
The cracticids—currawongs, Magpie, and butcherbirds, subfamily Cracticinae—are more obviously members of the broader corvid group. They have large, straight bills and mostly black, white or grey plumage. All are omnivorous to some degree: the butcherbirds mostly eat meat, Magpies usually forage through short grass looking for worms and other small creatures, currawongs are true omnivores, taking fruit, grain, meat, insects, eggs and nestlings.
The cracticids, despite their fairly plain, utilitarian appearance, are highly intellgent and have extrardinarily beautiful songs of great subtlety. Particularly noteworthy are the Pied Butcherbird, the Pied Currawong and the Australian Magpie.