[2] One of three currawong species in the genus Strepera, it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian magpie within the family Artamidae.

It is a large crow-like bird, around 50 cm (20 in) long on average, with yellow irises, a heavy bill, and black plumage with white wing patches.

Within its range, the black currawong is generally sedentary, although populations at higher altitudes relocate to lower areas during the cooler months.

[7] Subsequent authors have considered it a separate species,[8][9] although Richard Schodde and Ian Mason describe it as forming a superspecies with the pied currawong.

The affinities of all three genera were recognised early on and they were placed in the family Cracticidae in 1914 by ornithologist John Albert Leach after he had studied their musculature.

[15] Ornithologists Charles Sibley and Jon E. Ahlquist recognised the close relationship between the woodswallows and the butcherbirds and relatives in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade,[16] which later became the family Artamidae.

[22] The black currawong is generally found in wetter eucalypt forests, dominated by such species as alpine ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis), messmate (E. obliqua), and mountain gum (E. dalrympleana), sometimes with a beech (Nothofagus) understory.

In dryer more open forest, it is replaced by the clinking currawong, although the two may co-occur in places such as the Central Highlands and Eastern Tiers.

Wiping the carpal areas of wings in particular with their bills, they did not appear to wash afterwards, using the procedure as a form of dirt bath.

[25] The black currawong has an undulating flight pattern in time with its wing beats, and often cocks its tail in the air for balance when it lands.

[28] Like all currawongs, it builds a large cup-nest out of sticks, lined with softer material, and placed in the fork of a tree from 3 to 20 m (9.8 to 65.6 ft) high.

[29] No systematic studies have been done on the diet of the black currawong,[23] but it is known to be omnivorous, feeding on a wide variety of foodstuffs including insects and small vertebrates, carrion, and berries.

Most commonly, black currawongs forage in pairs, but they may congregate in larger groups—flocks of 100 birds have descended on orchards to eat apples or rotten fruit.

[29] The black currawong consumes the berries of the species in the heath genus Leptecophylla,[30] as well as Astroloma humifusum, and the native sedge Gahnia grandis, as well as domestic pea,[23] and apples.

Other vertebrates recorded as prey include the house mouse (Mus musculus),[12] small lizards, tadpoles, chickens,[32] ducklings, the young of domestic turkey,[12] Tasmanian nativehen (Tribonyx mortierii),[23] flame robin (Petroica phoenicea) and rabbit.

[29] It can become quite bold and tame, much like its close relative, the pied currawong on the Australian mainland, especially in public parks and gardens where people make a habit of feeding it.

[21] Black currawongs have been recorded taking young peas from pods,[33] raiding orchards,[13] seizing chickens from poultry yards,[32] and entering barns in search of mice.

[12] Black currawongs are very common around picnic areas in Tasmania's two most popular National Parks, Freycinet and Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair, and are often fed by tourists there.

The National Parks Authority tolerated this practice until 1995 when they found the birds were becoming a nuisance and began discouraging people from feeding wildlife.