There's a large flock of Choughs near where I work and I go and watch them most lunchtimes.
Today I saw a particularly amusing piece of behaviour. Out of the main flock a smaller flock of the immature birds had formed, and they had moved away from the adult birds. Then one of them uttered a sharp cry and all at once the four birds just "went mental". One bird rolled on its back, kicking its legs in the air, while a another climbed on to it and started making pecking motions towards it. A third bird lay on its side and picked up a piece of bark in both feet, manipulating and playing with it. The fourth bird snuggled up against the base of a tree and seemed to making itself as small as possible. All this lasted perhaps 30 seconds before an adult bird wandered over to the young ones and uttered another sharp cry, at which the young birds all jumped to their feet and followed the adult off towards the main flock.
John Leonard
Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade Powered by MOFAT
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