"len gardener" wrote in message
...
ok ok i know a lot of people have a bad time with magpies but look to
human intervention for the problem don't blame the bird.

we have 3 familes of magpies with common boundries here on our rural
block, so this time of the year or most of the year there is some
bickering over boundry infringments but never anything full on just
some aerial stuff or swooping at each other.

now this morning i saw 2 families having this sort of altercation on
our property where their boundries meet, so not taking much notice i
went about my work only to look down the paddock and see a dead
magpie. the magpie had recieved a fatal wound under 1 wing looked like
a bullet hole, but could not have been didn't hear any guns and people
around here don't go shooting magpies plus it was only a sight that
could be seen from our vantage point. so i can only guess that some
how this boundry fight got a bit rough.

has anyone else ever expereinced magpies actually hurting each other
to the point of death?

that's nature, that's life i guess.

len
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'


Len, Havent seen it in Magpies, however....

We have about 8 or so shingleback lizards (stumpy tails, or bob-tailed
lizards??) living around the house, and they come through the garden daily.
Most times, when they meet each other, these creatures have a bit of a
standoff, maybe a bit of a chase, and a lot of hissing and posturing. Even
at breeding time, this is as bad as I have seen them get.
3 weeks ago, we had 2 shingleback lizards in a 'to the death' fight. It was
each of them trying to rip the others head off. One had a fair chunk of his
lower lip missing, and the other had a huge divot in the top of his skull.
They were simply circling each other, and trying to crush the others head.
After watching this for some 15 minutes, we separated them, as it was not a
pretty sight. As soon as we stepped away, they were back into it!

We left them to it....

Never seen such violent behaviour from them before.

So, while I havent seen such a thing in Mapgpies, I'm not too suprised. I
have also read somewhere that if a swooping magpie is killed, another magpie
will take up the role of protecting the nest. Maybe the behaviour you saw
was something related to this....Just a thought. Is there any chance the
dead magpie was already injured before the fight started??

Oh, and I have a green tree frog who has repeatedly tried to bite other
frogs heads off....None of the other frogs will sit near her any more...You
have to admire single-mindedness...

Cheers,

Rod.......Out Back


"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the
environment
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