Chuffed Companions

The family that works together stays together.

The White-winged Choughs (pronounced chuffs) are another species that has been extensively studied for their behaviours and social interactions. They are social breeders and cooperate to raise the young, who in turn assist to raise their younger siblings.

The family we have here are quite characterful and extreme opportunists. The adults quickly worked out that free food was provided by helpful humans as long as the other big mammals (horses) were kept at a safe distance.

Over the years we have seen them bring their young down an shown them what the colourful containers are that are full of yummy treats, and where the food is placed after that.

Of course this isn't their natural diet, and they are just as dedicated to teaching their young about finding real food too. On occasions we have noticed the young unable to work out how their family got to the other side of a fence and frantically run up and down trying to get through - they seem to forget that they can fly sometimes.

These are photos I took of the group a few days ago - it seemed smaller than I remembered, but this is not the breeding season at the moment so part of the group may have been foraging a little further away.

When I got too close they all scattered for the pine trees above and took up positions facing in different directions. The smallest (I guess youngest) three huddled together and the adult birds spread out around them.

One of the curious things about these birds is that they have whiskers; tiny little hair-like feathers around their nostrils and the base of their beak. These seem to help locate food as the Choughs forage through the litter under the trees.

Choughs never seem to forage with other species, they stick together as a family unit - and will defend the area they've staked out as their spot at that particular instant. The biggest fights I've witnessed are between the other common black & white bird in the area, the Australian Magpie. These can be very heated arguments both physically and vocally from both species.