Yesterday afternoon Fairbairn Golf Course, flocks of 67 Red-rump Parrots, 25 Eastern Rosellas, 60 plus Crested Pigeons. Also, something seen several times before, a tight group of 12 choughs, middle of fairway, being
sheep-dogged by a variable number of surrounding, generally stationary magpies. The reason for the compact chough formation seems to be that a magpie (or 2) can drive back in a stray emergent chough but cannot deal with the defensive actions of the whole chough
phalanx when it stands its ground. The result is that the choughs can advance foraging, despite the resentful magpies, so long as the flock maintains its cohesion.
