"black and white" thing

["Philip Veerman" <>]

I vaguely thought the book "Magpie Alert" (Darryl Jones) addressed the issue of some B&W birds (in particular, magpies) attack B&W dogs preferentially over other coloured dogs but at a quick look I didn't find it just now. If it did, I don't think this was shown. I suspect the suggestion is probably a little silly. Wasn't this discussed here some time ago and the issue was about fox or dog? I think the evidence shown in the book is that some Magpies preferentially attack certain people or bike riders or certain dogs and others have different choices. As in an individual may have a favourite target. As to Has Chisholm’s observation been verified? well yes, in that Aus has many B&W birds, many of them are aggressive, often form nesting associations. I think he was making observations and ideas rather than being too specific of things to verify. Maybe or likely some graduate student has done some data amassing on this somewhere.

 

Geoff's point supports mine. Although a BsK is mostly white.

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----From: Geoffrey Dabb [ Sent: Tuesday, 3 September 2013 7:29 PM      To:
Subject: FW: [canberrabirds] "black and white" thing

This is a little confusing.  In the original report a black and white thing was attacking a grey thing with a small amount of black.  WWs routinely harass raptors of any colour within their territory.

 

From: David Rosalky [ Sent: Tuesday, 3 September 2013 6:51 PM      To:
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] "black and white" thing

 

Thanks Phil

 

As I recall discussion eons ago, some B&W birds (in particular, magpies) attack B&W dogs preferentially over other coloured dogs.  The whole thing may be an age-challenged spouses’ tale (please note my political correctness), but I thought it was a good story and these little anecdotes feed the story, even if not scientifically proven.  Has Chisholm’s observation been verified?

 

David

 

From: Philip Veerman Sent: Tuesday, 3 September 2013 6:38 PM      To: 'David Rosalky';
Subject: [canberrabirds] "black and white" thing

 

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