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{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{speciesbox
| name = Magpie-lark
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Grallina cyanoleuca'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22707425A131945945 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22707425A131945945.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
| image =Magpie-lark
| image_caption =
| image2 =
| image2_caption =
| genus = Grallina
| species = cyanoleuca
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| range_map = Distribution magpie-lark.jpg
| range_map_caption= Distribution shown in green
| synonyms =
|Corvus cyanoleucus|Latham
}}
}}
The '''magpie-lark''' ('''''Grallina cyanoleuca'''''), also known as
==Taxonomy and systematics==
The magpie-lark
Latham gave the species the common names of blue and white crow and pied grackle, based on the scientific names.<ref name=latham25/><ref name=latham29/> [[John Gould]] likewise called it the pied grallina in 1848, though he noted that it was called magpie-lark by the early settlers.<ref>{{cite book | last=Gould | first=John | author-link=John Gould | year=1848 | title=The birds of Australia | volume=2 | place=London | publisher=Self-published | at=Plate 54 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48200705 }}</ref> Gould noted similarities to the British pied wag-tail, and its flight to that of the European common pewit.<ref name="LondonNews1863">{{cite news |title=The magpie-larks of Australia at the Zoological Society's gardens, Regent's Park |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grallina_picata_-_1863_-_Print_-_Iconographia_Zoologica_-_Special_Collections_University_of_Amsterdam_-_UBA01_IZ16300129.tif |work=The Illustrated London News |date=1863 |page=225 |quote= .. . settlers, whose verandahs and housetops it constantly visits, running along the latter like the [[Pied Wagtail|pied wagtail]] of our own island. In fact, the two birds, except in size, are very similar. The flight of the grallina, is very peculiar, and unlike that of any other Australian bird. It much resembles that of the common pewit of Europe ''[possibly refers to [[Northern lapwing]]?]'', and is performed with the same heavy, flapping motion of the wings. Still, the flight of the two birds differ materially during their passage through the air, the grallina passing noiselessly, and generally in a straight line, while the pewit makes sudden turns and dips … }}</ref> Alternate names for the magpie-lark include the mudlark (more common in southeastern Australia<ref name=bryant11>{{cite thesis | url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/8744 | author=Bryant, Pauline |title=Regional variation in the lexicon of Australian English |year=2011}}</ref>) or pugwall (pug "clay"), from its nest, and peewee (more common in northeastern Australia<ref name=bryant11/>), peewit, from its call.<ref name=fraser13/> Unlike many species in southwestern Australia, the magpie-lark was given names by the local indigenous people that were [[onomatopoeic]] (sounding like the calls they make). Names recorded include ''byoolkolyedi'' (Perth and lowlands), ''dilabot'' (mountains and interior), and ''koolyibarak''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Abbott | first=Ian | title=Aboriginal names of bird species in south-west Western Australia, with suggestions for their adoption into common usage |year= 2009 |journal= Conservation Science Western Australia Journal |volume= 7 |issue=2 |pages=213–78 [265–66] |url=http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/about/science/cswa/articles/14.pdf}}</ref> Indigenous people in the Sydney region called it ''birrarik
Additional common names used regionally include Murray magpie in [[South Australia]].<ref name=fraser13/>
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==Description==
[[File:Grallina cyanoleuca -Braeside Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia -female-8.jpg|thumb|left|Female in Melbourne. The female has a white throat and the male has a black throat.]]
The magpie-lark (also known as wee magpie) is of small to medium size, reaching {{convert|25|to|30|cm|in|abbr=on}} long when fully grown, or about the same size as a European [[common blackbird]], and boldly pied in black and white; the weight range is {{convert|63.9|to|118|g|oz|abbr=on}} for males, and {{convert|70|to|94.5|g|oz|abbr=on}} for females.<ref name=hbwalive>{{cite book| last1=Tingay | first1=A. |last2=Tingay | first2=S. | year=
==Distribution and habitat==
The magpie-lark is a common and very widespread bird both in urban and rural areas, occupying all parts of Australia except for [[Tasmania]] and some of the inland desert in the far north-west of [[Western Australia]], and appears to have adapted well to the presence of humans. It is also found in southern [[New Guinea]] and on the island of [[Timor]]. In 1924 it was introduced onto [[Lord Howe Island]] which lies {{convert|600|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the east of Australia in the [[Tasman Sea]]. It is now widespread on the island.<ref name=hbwalive/> The magpie-lark is a familiar sight around Australia; sitting on telephone wires either
==Behaviour and ecology==
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The magpie-lark is aggressively [[territory (animal)|territorial]], and will fearlessly defend its territory against larger species such as [[Australian magpie|magpies]], [[Australian raven|ravens]], [[laughing kookaburra|kookaburras]], and even the [[wedge-tailed eagle]].{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}
They are also known to attack people to defend their nesting area.{{efn|
There has been a number of reports in news media, often involving eye damage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.trevorsbirding.com/larking-around/|title=Larking around - Trevor's Birding|date=19 July 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Joyce|first1=Nikkii|title=Grumpy peewee attacks little girl|url=http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/grumpy-peewee-attacks-little-girl-elara-swaine/551785/|access-date=30 August 2015|work=Sunshine Coast Daily|publisher=APN|date=8 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Mannix|first1=Liam|title=Swooping bird attacks woman at Richmond train station|url=http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/swooping-bird-attacks-woman-at-richmond-train-station-20140708-zt03f.html|access-date=30 August 2015|work=The Age|publisher=Fairfax Media|date=8 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Billias|first1=Maria |title=Swooping bird attacks glamour girls in Mitchell St frenzy |url=http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/swooping-bird-attacks-glamour-girls-in-mitchell-st-frenzy/story-fnk0b1zt-1227385165938 |date=5 June 2015 |access-date=30 August 2015 |work=NT News |publisher=News Corp}}</ref>
}}<ref>
http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/cycling_factsheets_birds.pdf archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20110330064540/https://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/cycling_factsheets_birds.pdf
</ref>
Although their attacks on people are not as aggressive as those of [[masked lapwing]]s and magpies, they can still result in surprise or minor injury to the recipient.
They are also known to attack mirrors, windows and other reflective surfaces in which they mistake their reflection for an intruder into their territory.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.backyardbuddies.org.au/birds/backyard-birds/magpie-larks-peewees |title=
===Breeding===
Birds generally pair for life (though divorce is not unknown) and defend a territory together. The [[bird nest|nest]] is round, about 150 mm in diameter with vertical sides and is usually placed on a flat branch somewhere near water or on a horizontal beam of a telephone pole. It is made of grass and plant material thickly plastered together with mud, and generously lined with grass, feathers and fur. Breeding is opportunistic, usually from August to February in the fertile south, anytime after rain in drier areas, and multiple broods are common when conditions allow. Both parents incubate a clutch of between three and five eggs. Incubation of eggs takes up to eighteen days, and the young birds fledge about three weeks after hatching. It is quite common for only some of the chicks to survive because sometimes the nest is not big enough for all of the baby birds, therefore one baby will sometimes push another out of the nest and it is most likely that the chick will not survive the fall.
With [[climate change]], Australia is seeing warmer summer temperatures and milder winters.
===Duet singing===
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Magpie-larks are one of the 200-odd species of bird around the world that are known to sing in duet; each partner producing about one note a second, but a half-second apart, so that humans find it difficult to tell that there are actually two birds singing, not one.
Traditionally, it has been thought that the function of duet singing (not just in magpie-larks but birds more generally and indeed in [[mammal]]s, [[insect]]s and [[frog]]s) was to defend a territory or to maintain the pair-bond. More recently it has been proposed that it serves to guard against infidelity—that the male sings to attract a mate, and the female joins in to let her rivals know that this particular male is already taken [citation required - projecting a human psychological dynamic, or anthropomorphism]. Duet singing remains fairly poorly understood as a great deal of the existing research on birdsong has been carried out in the northern Hemisphere, where a fairly small number of female birds sing.
In the case of the magpie-lark, the duet singing is now known to be cooperative: pairs sing together to defend their territory. Magpie-larks sing more vigorously in response to duet calls from other birds than they do to the call of a single rival, and more vigorously still if the callers are strangers rather than established and familiar birds from a neighbouring territory. A pair of neighbours calling from the
==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca cyanoleuca) female in flight Blanchetown.jpg|female
File:Magpie-
File:Australian Magpie-
</gallery>
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{{Commonscat|Grallina cyanoleuca|Magpie-lark}}
{{Wikispecies|Grallina cyanoleuca}}
* Images only on[https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=maglar1] the Macaulay Library collection.
{{Monarchidae|2}}
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[[Category:Grallina]]
[[Category:Birds of Australia]]
[[Category:Birds of Victoria (
[[Category:Birds of Timor]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1801]]
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