"black and white" thing

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Many years ago Alec Chisholm devoted a chapter of a book of his to this "black and white” thing and that it is a notable feature of Australian birds. Sure WW are aggressive, as are many birds when defending a nest and some black and white ones are notably so to other black and white birds. But WW are aggressive to most raptors (which are mostly not pied). I mentioned this in The GBS Report under the Magpie-lark text. In that case I expect that probably when they have high hormone levels they interpret Magpies as a supernormal version of themselves and harass them for the same reason that other birds attach reflections of themselves.

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: David Rosalky [
Sent: Monday, 2 September 2013 6:51 PM
To:
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] 3 x baillon's crake 4 x Quail BSK under attack by wagtail Jerra Wetlands

Kym Bradley wrote:

 

“Not long before a Wagtail was attempting to attack a Black Shouldered Kite”

 

Is this the “black and white” thing again?

 

David R

 

PS Great photos as usual, Kym