Piping Shrike (Gymnorhina tibicen leuconata)

The Piping Shrike has been the official badge of the South Australian Government since 1901. The state emblem generates pride and affection. Governor Tennyson in his dispatch to the Secretary of State for the Colonies said 'I herewith forward a flag with the new device upon it - the South Australian Shrike in the rising sun of the Commonwealth and hope that as it is a fine design and one which has been favourably received here ....'. (PC008, June 2003)

The piping shrike is also known as the white-backed magpie. Magpies can roughly be divided into white-backed and black-backed. The white-backed magpie is largely confined to western and southern Australia. (Kaplan, 2004).

There are at least four different subspecies of Australian magpie:

• The Black-backed Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen) found in Queensland and New South Wales, right across the Top End and most of arid Western Australia. In the future the black-backed race may be further split into four separate races, as there are regional differences between them.
• The White-backed Magpie (G. tibicen leuconata) found in Victoria, South Australia, and outback NSW.
• The Tasmanian Magpie (G. tibicen hypoleuca).
• The Western Magpie (G. tibicen dorsalis) in the fertile south-west corner of Western Australia.

At least two of the races were originally classified as separate species, but they are cross-fertile and hybridise readily. Where their territories cross, hybrid grey or striped-backed magpies are quite common.

Magpies mate across the year, but generally in winter. Nesting takes place in winter and spring is the season when the babies are looked after. By late summer the babies either make their own clan or separate from their parents whilst staying in the same clan.

The magpie is a commonly-used emblem of sporting teams in Australia, most notably the Port Adelaide Magpies Football Club and the Collingwood Football Club

Further Information on the Piping Shrike:

References and External Links

PC008 Information Sheet, "Use of the Piping Shrike", Australian Government, June 2003

"Australian Magpie", Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird, Gisela Kaplan, CSIRO Publishing, 2004.