Magpie-larks Grallina cyanoleuca
Melbourne, Australia, 12 August 2005

The Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca is a conspicuous Australian bird of small to medium size, also known as the Mudlark in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and as the Peewee in New South Wales and Queensland. It is common and widespread, occupying the entire continent except for Tasmania and some of the inland desert in the far north-west of Western Australia. It has adapted well to man-made environments, particularly where water is present.

Like so many Australian birds it was named for its apparent similarity to birds familiar to European settlers, but of course it is neither a magpie nor a lark. Its actual taxonomic relationship to other birds remains uncertain: it was traditionally placed somewhere in-between the mud nest builders and the currawong family (both of which look rather similar), but in the light of modern DNA studies by eg Sibley & Ahlquist (1990) is now rather tentatively grouped in the family Dicruridae (with Monarcha and Myiagra flycatchers, drongos, and Australian fantails). There are just two members of the genus Grallina - the other being the Torrent-lark G. bruijni which occurs only in New Guinea where it haunts rocky, swift-flowing streams in hills and mountains.

The species generally pair for life and are clearly sexually dimporphic: males have a black forehead, a narrow dark bar connecting the dark breast to the wing, and a horizontal black line through the eye, all of which the female lacks.

Female

Female

Female

Male

Male

Male

Male

For more go to -
Wikipedia: Magpie-lark
montereybay.com/creagrus/magpie-larks