Hi,
If anyone is in the vicinity of the John Gorton building in Parkes,
there are currently 3 young magpies giving regular displays of this kind of
behaviour. Just Thursday night on the way out of work at dusk, I watched them
playing with a branch much bigger than themselves, offering it, then pulling it
away, quite often falling over it until they all got distracted by a something
in a hole in the grass. These birds are the offspring of parents who nested on
a high ledge, possibly in the top of a rain downspout on the DEWHA entrance
side but prudently in this time of GFC (that’s Global Financial Crisis for all
you Geelong footy fans) on the Finance half of the building.
Shaun
From: Beth Mantle [
Sent: Friday, 21 November 2008 11:17 AM
To: John Leonard
Cc: Canberra Birds
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Strange Magpie behaviour
Hi John,
According to Gisela Kaplan's book "Magpie: Biology
& Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird" magpies are one of only a few
avian species that engage in extensive and complex play behaviour. Using
objects as part of this play is very common, as is the "domination"
play that you describe. Like other animals, it is thought that playing is
part of a young magpie's education in prey capture and handling, and social
behaviour. Play sessions can last for up to 10 minutes in duration, and
anyone who has ever hand-raised a magpie can probably tell you how quickly
they'll engage their humans into playing with them as well!
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