It was certainly an older bird, and a Male. We have a family breeding
(they're making the nest now) just down the road, and they're the only
magpies I see in the, well, valley I live in. So I can only assume that the
bird that was calling was the Adult Male that we see here, maybe he was
fending off an intruder ;)
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 4:24 PM, Michael Tarburton <
> wrote:
> G'day Nathan & other bird observers
>
> This looks like a real mixture of behaviour. Firstly the call. Could it
> have been the magpies threat call, which HANZAB describes as a croak (p
> 600)- (Ravens croak- though more the Australian than the Little Raven).
> This is often given with the wings outstretched, but is usually used
> towards con-specifics not humans. Maybe there was another magpie that it
> was directing the behaviour towards. Their alarm calls show quite a range,
> HANZAB describes some: as "trumpeting squawk", harsh "ka", and "broad-band
> alarm calls" (p 607).
>
> Then there are their distress calls - also broad-band (meaning a wide range
> of frequencies (pitch) at the same time). Then there are appeasement calls
> which are similar to the distress calls but shorter and of lower pitch and
> usually associated with submissive postures . This last one could sound
> like raven calls and have the wing behaviour that you saw. What do you
> think.
>
> Magpies have a wide variety of calls and associated behaviour, and they can
> mimic so maybe that was part of your observation. Do you know if the bird
> was young (more-likely then to be Appeasement calls) or older (more likely
> that it could be mimicking)
>
> Hope this is of some help.
>
> Cheers
>
> Mike
> ===================
> Michael Tarburton
>
> ===================
>
>
>
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
