Magpie-lark (Peewee) - Grallina cyanoleuca

Magpie-lark (Peewee)

Grallina cyanoleuca

Other Names: Australian Magpie-Lark, Peewee, Mudlark
Family:
Dicruridae (Monarchs, Fantails, Drongo,19 species in Australia)
Size: 27 cm
Distribution: All of Australia except a couple of small parts of central australia and a strip going from the southern WA/SA border up to the northwest WA coast.
Status: Common
Habitat: Open areas, roadsides, often near water.
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

The name magpie-lark is used in the bird books but everyone in real life calls this bird the peewee. They are in a different family to magpies, currawongs, and butcherbirds, though I often think of them as being a similar type of bird.

The male peewee (pictuerd below) has a black throat and a black face with a white stripe above the eye. The female has a white throat and white around her beak.

Magpie-lark (Peewee) - Grallina cyanoleuca
Photo: Winmalee, Blue Mountains NSW. High Resolution (1878 x 1323).

Some Birdwatching Resources

The Australian Bird Guide, by Peter Menkhorst (Author), Danny Rogers (Author), Rohan Clarke (Author), Jeff Davies (Illustrator), Peter Marsack (Illustrator), Kim Franklin (Illustrator) - Magpie-lark (Peewee) - Grallina cyanoleuca NEW: The Australian Bird Guide, by Peter Menkhorst (Author), Danny Rogers (Author), Rohan Clarke (Author), Jeff Davies (Illustrator), Peter Marsack (Illustrator), Kim Franklin (Illustrator).

Revised Edition 2019. Original edition published 2017. This is a newer Australian bird field guide that I just got recently. It may be the best one out of all of them now. Though I still like the pictures better in "Simpson and Day" in terms of their artistic value, and that they just look more interesting to me than the drawings in any other bird field guide I've seen. This one has more "clinical" looking pictures. They are coloured artist-rendered drawings, not photographs. Though the more "clinical" look is meant to be more anatomically accurate, and better for identification.

The rest of the book is wonderful, with different coloured regions on the range maps, and very high quality information overall. It was the winner in its category for an Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) award for book of the year in 2018.

Purchase from Australia (The Nile)

Purchase from Australia (Fishpond)

Purchase from Amazon.com (USA Site)

Purchase from Amazon.com.au (Australian Site)

See Also

Australian Bird Field Guides

Return to Australian Birds
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Magpie-lark (Peewee) - Grallina cyanoleuca

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