I have just been serenaded for 30 minutes by this magnificent butcher bird. He seems to show no fear of humans and let me take his photograph at close range.
Butcherbirds are Australasian songbirds with a complex range of beautiful songs. They get their name from hanging their prey by a twig hook or in a tree crevice. They often live in dense forests but can also be found in suburban backyards. They are quite large with bodies between 30 – 40 cm long and they have a heavy hook-tipped beak. Females lay between 2 – 5 eggs in the nest in a fork of a tree about 10 m from the ground. They breed from August to December and live together in family groups of up to 10 birds. Young birds leave the nest at about 4 weeks old.