Great post Allie. I love your description of the wild Currawongs coming to your little guy's cage and admiring the prized possessions he was showing off for them. Most definitely a highly intelligent species.
The beak reminds me of our crows which I believe share a family with Ravens. Are the Currawongs distantly related?
I raised two baby crows when I was a very young girl in rural Kansas and the first one, named Jimmy, used to follow me to my one-room, country schoolhouse by hopping along above me from one telephone pole to the next. Once all the children got settled into their desks, Jimmy would fly through the open windows in the fall of the year and snatch up their shiny little scissors or anything else he admired. He'd fly back out the window to take them to his private stash (which we never found). Needless to say, my classmates parents, who were barely eeking out a living as Kansas farmers, got quite upset when they had to drive 6 miles to town for a new pair of child's scissors.
My teacher would tell me I had to catch Jimmy and take him right home -- with a note to my Mom to keep him caged. I would grab Jimmy with both hands, holding him away from me to avoid his bites. He would gnaw at my tiny fingers with his huge beak, all the way home. Such a rascal. He adored me normally, but like our parrots, he had a mind of his own and did not appreciate being picked up and carried in such a rude manner!!! He was an amazing mimic.
I love your compassionate feelings toward the injured Currawong. I would feel the same. Karma to you!
Thanks for sharing Jimmy's story, Nedra. He sounds like an amazing childhood pet and the start of a life time love for birds.
Currawongs are only distantly related to Ravens and Crows which are from the family Corvidae. Currawongs are Artamidae which includes Australian Magpies and Butcherbirds. Still, they are similar and I find it interesting that these types of birds are not common pets despite what wonderful little companions they make.
They are loyal and tough, if Ark got loose I wouldn't have to fret about his safety and he wouldn't go far. They can mimic and talk, although Ark prefers to Whistle tunes. They don't chew like parrots do. They are affectionate and playful and they don't suffer from the myriad of diseases that parrots seem to be afflicted by. I spend so much time trying to keep my Conures happy but it doesn't take much for Ark to be content. He is the perfect low maintenance pet.
Thanks for caring
This hurts me. It psychically hurts me to think that people are this cruel. I just don't understand why people dismiss birds as a creature not worth the chance to have a great life. What makes them any different from us? What makes them any different from a cat, or dog that we tend to favor so much. I just don't get it. It's just so sad.
I don't understand either, I've been struggling with it all day. Just one more reason that birds are better company than most people.
While I have no time at all for our Wildlife Rescue services here in Oz, they should have taken in the Currawong. He is a native bird and not an introduced species (which they will take in and not tell you that they are going to have them euthanased which they say they are required to by law), it does not matter that he is a predatory bird and not a parrot. If it was a raptor they would save that. And I have lost a number of birds to Hawks and Falcons, I wouldn't try to hurt them but I wish they would go and hunt somewhere else.
Most vets will treat native birds without charging for them or only charging for what medication or bandages etc that they use.
When are people going to realize that we need the predatory birds just as we need our seed eaters, insectivore and nectar feeders. They are essential to a balanced ecological system. They will weed out sick and injured creatures to keep the healthy creatures safe from disease. Yeah it bugs us if they try to attack our birds but they are only trying to survive.
Currawongs, Magpies and Ravens (which the first two are related to) are extremely intelligent. They can learn tricks and they can learn to talk. A friend has a Magpie that she saved and raised when it was being attacked by children in the middle of the road. That bird can do a police siren so well you would swear the car was out the front of the house. And he talks up a storm. If hand raised from babies Magpies will bond very strongly to the person raising them. They can be released 20 miles from where the raiser lived and they will beat the person who released it back to the raisers home. That is why the raisers use a glove that looks like a Magpie to feed the baby and hide behind a screen so the Magpie cannot see them.
Good on you Allie for trying to save this bird. And you are right the sound of the Currawongs warbling in the morning is a beautiful sound. I love hearing them.
I don't know why wires wouldn't take him in but I knew our avian vet would help with little to no charge.
Ark bonded to the man that raised him and will sit in his lap and let him stroke his back and step up on his arm but he doesn't allow me to get that close. Still we have an understanding and he will call to me for attention and beg for food like a baby bird.
Having him in our yard has attracted scores of wild Currawongs so that at any given time they're on his aviary, in the trees and on the power lines. I'm sure the neighbours think we're the Hitchcock family. I always thought they were a fairly solitary bird but not at our house. They've even gotten cheeky enough to expect something at Arks feeding time (however I don't feed them).
They keep the Asian Myna numbers down and it's a nice change in call to wake up to from the warbling magpies.
It's comforting to hear that other people understand the Currawong's place in nature and that they aren't just disposable pests unworthy of respect.
Thanks Kate
