Dusky Wood-swallow

 DUSKY WOODSWALLOW Artamus cyanopterus

 

 

There were numbers of Woodswallows about  in the area of the sewerage  ponds yesterday. Some were feeding young birds,  not too long out of the nest.

These Dusky Woodswallows are not to be confused with those others, the Welcome, and White-backed Swallows and the Martins we often see in and out of old sheds, under verandahs and bridges. 

Whilst both are of the order Passeriformes, they are each of a different Family. Woodswallows, Artamus, Swallows Hirundinidae. So, not related.  

The Woodswallows are very social animals and can often be seen sitting together along a branch, up to a dozen birds squeezed up together tightly. 

 

 

 

Unlike the swallows and fairy martin family who build nests from mud, the Woodswallow builds a rough looking nest from twigs and small branches

Cuckoo-shrike Black-faced

 BLACK-FACED CUCKOO-SHRIKE Coracina novaehollandiae

 

 

 

There is a nicely wooded paddock at Willowmavin, a few kilometres to west of Kilmore. It is seldom grazed so at the moment it is heavily grassed with kangaroo grass, wallaby grass and other pasture grasses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This young bird was busy hunting and feeding, returning to the same branch to consume what had been caught. Caterpillars by the look of it.