The Song of the Butcherbird

The song of the Pied Butcherbird Cracticus nigrogularis is without doubt my favourite bird song of all. If you click here you can enjoy it while you read the rest of this brief post. (Andrew Skeoch is unquestionably one of Australia's foremost wildlife recorders and you could do worse than go on to his site after you finish here; and no, I've only met him once, by chance, and he doesn't know me!)

A bold hunter, the Pied Butcherbird is a bird of the dry inland, one of the reasons for my passion for it. And for the next month, I'll be hearing it, and you won't be reading me, as we head up through central Queensland, across the Donohue and Plenty 'Highways' (no bitumen, lots of dust and corrugations) to Alice Springs in the central deserts, and ultimately home via the Andamooka Track and the Flinders Ranges, definitely heart country for me.

I'll doubtless come back with lots of material for future postings, so please don't forget me! I'll be checking in when internet access allows (ie not very often) and would be glad of your comments.

BACK ON TUESDAY 28 MAY