Questions about magpies

["Jenny Bradford" <>]

Can anybody answer a couple of questions about (Qld) magpies for me?

At around what age does a magpie reach breeding age, if all the conditions
are conducive (i.e. no other breeding pair in the vicinity)?

Each year, I observe juvenile magpies with two distinct colourings:
Some are shades of motley grey, while others have tawny brown feathers, and
what look like painted-on "eyebrows".  I have hand-raised both a male and a
female and neither of these went through this "tawny brown" phase, so I
have scratched the theory that one is male and the other female.

Also, is there anyone known to be doing (or to have done) any behavioural
research into magpies?

Jenny Bradford