callumbrae
magpie150411_A9967smshsig
Security checks.
Just occasionally, when I am under my camouflage, the magpies suspect something funny is going on. They do not sound off the danger call, and rather than fly away, a whole group of them will sit around me, looking at me and talking about me. They neither warble nor screech, but just "caa, caa" away in their own language. This is usually the cue for the small birds to disappear and the larger birds (crimson rosellas, wattlebirds etc) to come and have a look at me too. This will go on for 10 to 15 minutes before they decide I am just boring, and then they gradually dissipate and the small birds return.
It doesn't happen very often, but it is fascinating to see how one dominant species of wildlife will send out messages that are apparently understood by the other species.
I once also observed the same behaviour when a cat with a live mouse was cowering under some playground structure. In this case the currawongs and magpies were all standing by hoping the mouse might escape the cat.
Australian magpie juvenile, Callum Brae, Australian Capital Territory, April, 2015.
magpie150411_A9967smshsig
Security checks.
Just occasionally, when I am under my camouflage, the magpies suspect something funny is going on. They do not sound off the danger call, and rather than fly away, a whole group of them will sit around me, looking at me and talking about me. They neither warble nor screech, but just "caa, caa" away in their own language. This is usually the cue for the small birds to disappear and the larger birds (crimson rosellas, wattlebirds etc) to come and have a look at me too. This will go on for 10 to 15 minutes before they decide I am just boring, and then they gradually dissipate and the small birds return.
It doesn't happen very often, but it is fascinating to see how one dominant species of wildlife will send out messages that are apparently understood by the other species.
I once also observed the same behaviour when a cat with a live mouse was cowering under some playground structure. In this case the currawongs and magpies were all standing by hoping the mouse might escape the cat.
Australian magpie juvenile, Callum Brae, Australian Capital Territory, April, 2015.