On Saturday Night, I told the tale of the boxthorn bonanza that several species are engaged in at present.
The only real winner of course is the boxthorn as its seeds are spread far and wide by the steady stream of diners at the fest.
It is unusual, I think, to see more than one or two Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike in an area. In most locations where we find them, a pair, and perhaps a juvenile are the usual suspects. It is however noted in many areas that they gather in large flocks of 100 or more, particularly in the non-breeding season. Perhaps they are partly nomadic over winter.
So it was quite a surprise to find at least 14 of them coming and going regularly to the boxthorn playground. It seemed that on a whim, they would all fly out of the trees and disappear, which made it easy to work out the numbers.
And.
Equally on a whim, first one or two would return, followed rapidly by the remainder of the flock.
They have a lovely low call, often described as a soft churring, or more creatively as a yodelling like trill
Their flight pattern is best described as a few wing-flaps and an undulating glide with the wings against the body, repeated. So the flight is a series of rises and falls. They are neither a Cuckoo, nor, a Shrike. In New Zealand, one of the common names for them is “cherry hawk” And no doubt their fruit preference is to blame.
When they land, they will inevitably ‘shuffle’ their wings back and forth, earning them the nicknames “Shufflewing” or “Wingshuffler”.
When I first turned to bird photography they were among the earliest birds I photographed.
Over the past week, as the weather has been kind, we have visited their festive area several times and watched the comings and goings as they feed.
Here is a sample of the few days.
Enjoy
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST 
Some fine images, David!
Lovely to have a good number in the area. I do love their call.
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They do have a fine call. They were the one of the first birds I seriously photographed. Always have a warm spot for them.
I didn’t know they travelled in large flocks over winter.
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Beautiful captures David of a bird we seldom see. It is interesting the facts you shared about them, which concurs with my thoughts that most Aussie birds are fruit eaters and that our country provides fruits and blossom throughout the year. That flight pattern I find interesting as I see it also in the Currawongs and I have forgotten the name for it as it is a unique one to our birds I think. A great fest for the Cuckoo-shrikes and for you also my friend. Enjoy your early spring birds.
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Hi Ashley, yes I’m not sure of the name of that flight pattern Be interesting to followup The honeyeaters certainly have plenty of choices And its interesting to see them working on both insects and blossoms.
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How great to get such good views and wonderful photographs of them. I particularly like the one on the bush spreading its tail. A bird I see only occasionally and usually at quite a distance.
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Hi Eleanor, I can’t ever recall seeing them in such good numbers as a flock before. They seemed to have two areas where they worked, and after awhile took off to the further location. Then slowly they woudl drift back again.
A week later when we checked there were no BCS, and only a handful of Spiny-cheeked. Most all of the bushes were close to stripped, except one further out in the paddock that didn’t seem to warrant anyone’s attention.
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