On 31 May Philip wrote: “When Choughs are disturbed (for example by Magpies) they tend to either shrug them off or gather in a huddle for some communal displays ....”
I suspect Philip is referring to a similar communal display that Ian Rowley described in a wonderfully dramatic and metaphorical way, viz, “Confrontation
between the two species [magpies & choughs] takes place so often that choughs have developed a special group defence which they often use when caught in the open away from cover. At the first alarm pipe the choughs all run together and from being scattered
pre-occupied feeders ripe for a bullying attack, they are transformed into a screaming piebald mass of black and white with a dozen or more crimson eyes, gaping bills and flashing white wing-patches. This “plum pudding” display is remarkably effective and
magpies rarely if ever succeed in damaging choughs. ... magpies never attack a group of choughs in plum-pudding display.”
Rowley, Ian 1974 Bird life Taplinger Publishing Co., Inc New York p.103.
John Layton
Holt.
