RE: Grey Butcherbird killings in Brisbane

["Tony Russell" <>]

Had a vicious male Magpie catch and kill a blackbird about a month ago.
Didn't eat it, just killed it.

-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Veerman  
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 2:54 PM
To: Tony Russell
Cc: Birding-aus (E-mail)
Subject: Grey Butcherbird killings in Brisbane


That Magpies are common in almost all cities and I have never heard of
this, suggests it does hardly happen, if at all. They would probably
find it hard for two reasons, they don't have a hooked beak and they may
have difficulties hanging on the side of the cage, as they are a lot
heavier. They do sometimes chase other small birds but cases of magpie
predation on other birds are rare. I'd suggest Currawongs as more likely
contenders than Magpies. They are all closely related and it is all
possible.
 
Philip