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Alice Springs Waste Stabilisation Ponds

The Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus) are birds of wide open spaces, often seen in agricultural regions and arid desert zones. They are a social species that can often be seen in groups, roosting together in a cluster.

Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds © Dorothy Latimer
Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds © Dorothy Latimer

They have a blue-grey beak with a grey-black tip and a black faced mask that extends from the base of the bill to and around the eyes. The plumage is a smokey ash grey upper, with a lighter grey breast, darker wings, with silver underwings. The tail feathers are black with white tip, although the race cinereus has a black undertail, whilst the race albiventris (A c dealbatus) has a white undertail in north-eastern Queensland.

Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds © Dorothy Latimer
Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds © Dorothy Latimer

There are four defined subspecies of the Back-faced Woodswallows, that are mainly identified by the black or white colouration of their tail vents.

Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds © Dorothy Latimer
Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds © Dorothy Latimer
Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds © Dorothy Latimer

The photographs presented here were taking in the month of May.


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Passeriformes
  • Family: Artamidae
  • Genus: Artamus
  • Species: Artamus cinereus
  • Subspecies:
    • A.c. normani
    • A.c. dealbatus
    • A.c. cinereus
    • A.c. melanops

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