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piping shrike


noun the Australian magpie.

Contributor's comments: The "piping shrike" is not the Australian Magpie. But they are variously known as "Pee Wee - Magpie Lark - Mud Lark. An Australia Magpie is a different species, and much bigger than the piping shrike. The piping shrike is the SA bird emblem.

Contributor's comments: Just because it's our state emblem, doesn't mean anyone actually uses the term.

Contributor's comments: The name 'magpie' is used more commonly - 'piping shrike' seems to be more an official term, used e.g. in describing the state emblem.

Editor's comments: The State Badge of South Australia was notified by a proclamation gazetted on the 14th January, 1904 which declared the Badge of the State to be a Piping Shrike. The bird in question is "Gymnorhina tibicen leuconota", the white-backed race of the Australian Magpie found in south eastern Australia, also known as the White-Backed Magpie. The Magpie Lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) is a bird of many names, but, as far as we are aware, it has never been known as the Piping Shrike.

Contributor's comments: Although it is not present in some bird books that I have, growing up in Adelaide it was always referred to as the piping shrike.