The Otway Pied Currawong or Otway Forester, Strepera graculina ashbyi, is found between the You Yangs and Portland and south of the volcanic plains and is the most southerly of the 6 subspecies of Pied Currawongs. Having similar features to that of the Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor), the Otway Pied has a long history of misidentification, including in 1913 being mistakenly described as a Grey Currawong and named Neostrepera versicolor riordani. Under further examination in 1927, riordani was identified as a type of Pied Currawong that had already been described in 1901 and hence withdrawn. Roughly a century later, in 2011, due to taxonomic confusion and human error, ssp. ashbyi was mistakenly declared extinct, as the study only focused on the ashbyi population found in the Grampians, which have been completely hybridised by ssp. nebulosa. The study did not take into account ashbyi’s abundance in the Otway Ranges, and as a result, ashbyi was reclassified as, least concern, in 2020. The Otways population remain at a moderate risk of introgression with nebulosa encroaching from the east.
To spite all this, the Otway Pied Currawong is common in the Otways and surrounding environs and communities. Known for their melodic and far-carrying calls, they can be heard from quite a distance away. These Currawongs are omnivorous and opportunistic, often found in small groups foraging mid-canopy. Eating fruit and berries, bugs, spiders, other invertebrates and smaller vertebrates, including other smaller birds, eggs, and mammals. They will also eat human scraps and scavenge through rubbish.
The Otway Pied Currawong has a lack of the white band that goes around the tail base seen in other Pied Currawongs, as it is partially or completely concealed by uppertail-coverts, and they have smaller white markings overall. The Grey Currawong has a straight upper bill and a distinct clinking call, while the Otway Pied Currawong’s upper bill is slightly curved, and they make a wailing or clanging call.
Published: 07/04/2025
Colac Birder 