Sudoku Puzzles

Sweet bird - is it related to the kookaburra? ...has a similar look (especially the beak)

Interesting name for a bird. The pied I get, but Butcher?

maen all! looks like one of those bully types...the butcher part comes from their habit of impaling prey on thorns or barbed wire and then tearing it apart to feed...here in america they are known as shrikes with a shorter hooked bill than the bird pictured.

This does look like a relative of the Kookaburra. They look more like members of the Kingfisher family to me than the Shrikes. But I'm not an avian taxonomist.

deltz, you have it right they also raid the nests for young, they are great to have around if you have a big sparrow problem.

So then it follows that after the sparrows are taken care of, what takes care of the over abundance of butcherbirds?

Ah, but jeb, you wouldnt want to get rid of them! Their song is just gorgeous and they have quite a varied diet including lots of pesky insects. Here is a link to a soundbite; http://www.abc.net.au/archives/av/birds.htm

It is very similar to the bird symbol of Sth Australia, known as the Piping Shrike so I can understand your references. The SA shrike has quite a piercing squawk, not the call of the butcherbird.
No, they are not related to the kingfisher family.
http://birdsinbackyards.net/bird/23

Good photo Kate. Don't see these birds down sth coast though.