Ralph,
The same behaviour seen while camping on the upper Noosa River Qld
several years ago.
The Magpies attracted a Sacred Kingfisher which swooped the Monitor.
In the swoop the Kingfisher hit the side of the tent & was taken by
the Monitor on the rebound & all trace disappeared within about 15
seconds.
Chris Charles
0412 911 184
33deg 47'30"S
151deg10'09"E
On 16/10/2010, at 10:20 AM, Chris Sanderson wrote:
Hi Ralph,
I would say instead that birds would learn the threat calls of
other species
and respond to them. I guess it would be like living in a country
where you
don't speak the language. You can still tell that a group of locals
standing around a bush screaming means something is wrong. I'd say
pishing
works on the same principle, though of course not all birds respond
to it in
the same way. Back to your question, I would think the primary
purpose of
the magpies' calls was not to attract other birds, but to let the
Monitor
know it had been seen and they weren't going to let it sneak up on
anything.
The secondary benefit of attracting other birds to aid in
harassing the
monitor is no doubt also very useful.
Regards,
Chris
On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 6:53 PM, Ralph Reid
<>wrote:
Hi all,
Several years ago I was on a property west of Wagga Wagga and my
attention
was drawn to two magpies screaming in a small eucalypt. A closer
view
revealed a lace monitor about 3 metres up the tree (I don't know
if the
magpies had a nest there, the foliage was sparse but I could not
see one).
What suprised me, though, was that the magpie's alarm calls
quickly drew 5
birds of 3 different species (white-browed babbler, magpie lark,
crested
pigeon) who all joined in hurling abuse at the monitor.
Were the magpie's alarm calls an example of a 'common threat warning'
shared by the different species?
Regards
Ralph Reid
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