Dusky WoodswallowScientific name: Artamus cyanopterus
Meaning of name: Artamus is from the Greek word artamos, meaning butcher. Cyanopterus is from the Greek words cyanos, meaning blue, and pteron, meaning wing.
Aboriginal name: Bewoen (bee’woe’en).
Distribution: Found in southern and eastern Australia.
Description: Up to 19.5cm long with a 35cm wingspan.
Notes: The furthest distance recorded by the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme for this species of bird to travel is 8 km. The oldest bird recorded was still alive when its band was read in December 1981, 8 years 2.3 months after being banded (information as at 23 June 2012).
The photographs for this species were not taken in the reserves of interest to the FQPB.
References: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Various contributors.
What Bird is That? Neville W Cayley. 1978
Aboriginal names of bird species in south-west Western Australia, with suggestions for their adoption into common usage. Ian Abbott. 2009. Conservation Science Western Australia Journal. Volume 7 No 2 http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/about-us/science-and-research/76-publications-and-resources/103-conservation-science-wa-journal
Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/science/abbbs/abbbs-search.html
Photograph courtesy of Clive Nealon.
The bird in the centre is a juvenile. Photograph courtesy of B Wykes.
Dusky Woodswallows roost communally. Photograph courtesy of B Wykes.
