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-   -   magpie oddity? dunno never seen this before (https://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/australia/84879-magpie-oddity-dunno-never-seen-before.html)

len gardener 12-10-2004 03:14 AM

magpie oddity? dunno never seen this before
 
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,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

Staycalm 12-10-2004 03:28 AM

Possible but I wasn't able to find anything on Google other than the fact
they fight and usually recieve minor injuries.

Liz
"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,'

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

environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before

you send.



Rod Out back 12-10-2004 03:35 AM

"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
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before

you send.



len gardener 12-10-2004 04:00 AM

thanks staycalm,

yeh they're not noted for fighting to the death one will dominate and
the other will will want to get away. we had one that broke a wing on
the power lines in his craze for chasing the small pardelotes.

len

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

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

len gardener 12-10-2004 04:10 AM

thanks rod,

yes i have heard of some reptiles fighting until the death but there
again the general rule is the less dominant one backs off and leaves
the scene with much haste, usually with the winner in hot pursuit no
doubt to make sure the loser keeps on truckin' hey lol.

this bird looked like the alpha male of this family his his role will
be filled or the lone female could be chased away by a new couple
wanting her turf so to speak (these families tend to have 3 or
sometimes 4 birds in the group so would guess there could be a beta
male to fill his place.), i've seen that happen and watching the alpha
male convincing the young to leave home can look nasty but then again
no real damage done just some feather knocked about.

this male looked healthy enough this morning, so it was the wound that
got him with a big loss of blood.

a dominant freddo hey they will eat anything the is small enough for
them to get it into their mouths, so reckon the amphibians see each
other as food unless the mating season is on then they reckognise
parteners by the call.

ah nature grand aint it?

len

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

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

Rod Out back 12-10-2004 04:54 AM

"len gardener" wrote in message
...
thanks rod,

yes i have heard of some reptiles fighting until the death but there
again the general rule is the less dominant one backs off and leaves
the scene with much haste, usually with the winner in hot pursuit no
doubt to make sure the loser keeps on truckin' hey lol.

this bird looked like the alpha male of this family his his role will
be filled or the lone female could be chased away by a new couple
wanting her turf so to speak (these families tend to have 3 or
sometimes 4 birds in the group so would guess there could be a beta
male to fill his place.), i've seen that happen and watching the alpha
male convincing the young to leave home can look nasty but then again
no real damage done just some feather knocked about.

this male looked healthy enough this morning, so it was the wound that
got him with a big loss of blood.

a dominant freddo hey they will eat anything the is small enough for
them to get it into their mouths, so reckon the amphibians see each
other as food unless the mating season is on then they reckognise
parteners by the call.

ah nature grand aint it?

len

snipped


Len,

Asked the authority on all weird bird behaviour(mum) about the Magpie; she
said it does happen a bit. Not really common, but it does happen.

I think the frog is just a cranky bitch. She has done some pretty nasty
attacks on frogs sitting quietly beside her, but has even bitten an
employees toe, and has even crawled onto my hand in an effort to rip my
little finger off! She got 2 knuckles down her gullet before I realised she
was serious! Buggers me what she was going to do when she reached the hand!

For this sort of VERY aggresive behaviour, her name this past 4 years is Mrs
Psycho Frog...

Cheers,

Rod.



Trish Brown 12-10-2004 08:13 AM

len gardener wrote:

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


Len, magpies are highly territorial and will often go to extraordinary
lengths to drive off interlopers! Here in N'cle, where tucker is easy
and space around town is at a premium, it's not at all uncommon to see
dead maggies, either old or young, that have been killed by their tribe
to keep the population down.

AFAIK, when food or breeding 'space' is short, the magpies exist in
discrete tribes, each of which has an optimum population size. If that
number is exceeded, then the youngest or weakest member will be driven
out. If the member won't (or can't) get out fast enough, it may well be
killed by the tribe.

Years ago, I was out flower collecting at a place called Minmi. I saw
about a dozen magpies, all on the ground and swooping/beating something
that was flopping about among them. When I went to investigate more
closely, I saw that it was a young adult magpie, nearly exhausted and
quite bloody from the repeated attacks! I crawled into the cattleyards
(where the assault had taken place) and managed to catch the bird in a
chaff bag.

Long story short, but I took it home and kept it for a few weeks. It was
unable to fly, so I made a harness for it out of seam binding tape. Of
an arvo, we would go out into the back paddock and 'fly' for half an
hour or so. Eventually, the bird got the hang of it all and began to fly
circles around me. That's when I let him go. I hope he did well in life
after his dicey beginnings!

I have a long scar on my left forearm from this magpie. One morning, I
wasn't quick enough with the soaked dogfood and he pecked at me,
ploughing a furrow about eight inches long! It festered and was *quite*
painful, taking a long time to heal. If you have a local maggie that
swoops, make sure you wear something that will prevent him getting at
you and breaking any skin! I wouldn't wish a wound like that on anyone!

--
Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia

len gardener 12-10-2004 09:34 AM

thanks trish,

very interesting in all my contact with maggies here in qld i have
never seen a vicious attack on each other, but i guess nature in the
raw always shows us something different hey. these families normally
have little more than tiffs over the fence so also wondering if this
was more an accident than deliberate. there was no other damage on the
bird just this hole. anyway interesting to hear others experiences as
always.

len

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

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

Andrew Puddifer 12-10-2004 10:07 AM

It's also posible that it was an accidental collision. They seem to
be very agile fliers, but I have seen collisions before.
Wouldn't be hard to imagine a beak impaling another bird if something
went wrong.
Regards, Andrew.

len gardener wrote:

thanks trish,

very interesting in all my contact with maggies here in qld i have
never seen a vicious attack on each other, but i guess nature in the
raw always shows us something different hey. these families normally
have little more than tiffs over the fence so also wondering if this
was more an accident than deliberate. there was no other damage on the
bird just this hole. anyway interesting to hear others experiences as
always.

len

snipped


gromit 15-10-2004 02:54 AM

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 11:14:03 +1000, in aus.gardens
len gardener posted:

[snip]

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

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


I am by no means an ornithologist, but I have observed elsewhere in
nature that you get some animals (magpies in your case) which are more
aggressive that the average. I have seen this in the odd magpie that
swoop regardless of whether it's nesting season or not.

I'm not sure if these birds have testosterone or an equivalent
hormone, but I'd say there is a super aggressive bird (with a high
level of such a hormone) living in one of those territories. If you've
not seen it before suggests this is a young bird or an intruder
asserting itself to establish territory.

I'm really only guessing, but this is what comes to mind without any
direct observation.

--
Phil
To reply delete "NOTHANKS"

len gardener 15-10-2004 10:04 AM

g'day gromit,

from talking to rangers etrc.,. yes the male have testosterone which
kicks in around mating season (like now) and it looks like this year
that season could be extanded because winter ended early up here so
they could very well have 2 breeding seasons. so for us the front
paddock magpies are one down the forest magpies are the victors.

i knew they could get savage but have never known them to do fatal
harm to each other but that is nature in the raw hey?

len

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

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

John Savage 27-10-2004 01:40 AM

len gardener writes:
from talking to rangers etrc.,. yes the male have testosterone which
kicks in around mating season (like now) and it looks like this year


I recall reading that during the mating season the testicles of
male magpies swell to something like 20 times their normal size.
Apart from the discomfort :-) this means the bird is driven almost crazy
by testosterone-induced instincts (and mood-swings), including its
protective role.

i knew they could get savage


Nah, they try, but I dodge them with alacrity!

In one or two cases magpie attacks have been fatal to humans.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)



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