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The Apostlebird (Struthidea cinera) is supposedly named after the 12 apostles as they are always in a group of multiple birds. I love them. They are gregarious, noisy and loads of fun to be around. Primarily ground feeders, they look for vegetable matter and will also take insects if the opportunity arises.
The range map for the Apostlebird from eBird shows they are an eastern Australian bird, absent from the far south and south-eastern coast. I know them to be inland and semi-arid areas. Not seen in areas like Cairns or the Tablelands to the west, but as soon as you head north or south into drier Outback areas, they are present.
Not shy of humans, I have been mobbed by Apostlebirds when I got out of my campervan at an Outback roadhouse. If you have food out, they will find you. However, they may be widespread but their populations are not concentrated. You can see this in the zoomed in portion of the range map shown below. There is no guarantee you will see Apostlebirds in the eastern interior, but if they are around you will certainly know about it.
Apostlebirds are mud-nesters and build large, rather messy nests on horizontal tree branches. They often cram into the nest together at night. The groups of Apostlebirds usually only contain one pair of breeding adults with the rest of the birds being older offspring or other non-breeding adults. Their conical bill is adept for gathering mud and material to make the nest.
While Apostlebirds look a fairly uniform slate grey colour, if you look closer the wings are tinged with bronze and the tips of the breast feathers are paler giving in interesting scaly effect. They are noticeably smaller than their magpie relatives, closer to the size of the butcherbirds. However, they are fairly stout birds and their grey eyes give them a rather severe look.
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