One of the many Magpies that frequent my place makes what seem to be very unusual calls. It seems to imitate other birds which I have never seen any other Magpie do. Check the following link to see what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J6zC7HQ4Bw
Especially listen to 1 min 57s which seems to be a Yellow Tail Black Cockatoo, and 2 min 40s which seems to be a Kookaburra. It makes other calls as well.
Have to agree, have never heard some of those sounds from a magpie before. Then again perhaps we have but just didnt know it was a magpie?
Well the Yellow Tail call got me outside looking for them before I realised what was going on.
Most unusual.
I wonder if juveniles do this until they establish their own identity (hopefully a magpie one!).
---booshkie---
I have heard a magpie imitate a lot of birds. Funny thing was...it was all the bird sounds that got me out there looking for them. I was impressed by this magpie sitting on the verge tree making the sounds of seagulls, canaries, kookabarras and some sort of parrot or galah. Haven't seen him about for several months.
Intelligent birds.
Rohan. Your movie of the Magpie is great. Most likely it is an adolescent/juvenile behavior, as Booshkie suggests, sometime before the serious business of competition for Magpie parenting rights commences.
For me, with more time on my hands then ever before, I am starting to register the wealth of diversity of behaviors in the local (seemingly static) birdlife in my backyard, ie. Noisy Miners - Butcher Birds - Magpies.
I recently posted a sound byte of a juvenile Noisy Miner, which is sounding a lot like the local Grey Butcher Bird. 1st time I’d heard these sounds from a Noisy Miner.
I suspect that the more I observe/listen/study the behaviors of the locals, the more I will be rewarded. Cheers
VJ
I've been doing some serious magpie study in recent months, but outside and through books/websites.
Magpies are superb mimics and songsters so I now know its not at all surprising to hear them sounding like other birds. They can also bark like dogs..
Noisy miners though - never heard them sound like a butcherbird, sounds interesting!
Hi! SthWSyd. I was a bit misleading above. This one Noisy Miner makes a quiet chattering call when feeding much like a Grey Butcher Bird when it perches and chatters away to itself, not like the full on contact and territorial calls. This is a samplehttp://www.supload.com/listen?s=HOD9YPFUTF8X. Cheers!
VJ
Magpies actually learn to sing by copying other Magpies. It stands to reason that they copy a few other birds along the way before they get 'Magpie' down pat.
**looks a bit embarrassed**
This is my first ever post - didn't mean it to be contentious, but I have to mention that the magpie in that clip has the fully developed black-and-white beak, not a black beak like you see in the young ones (which I understood lasts a couple of years). Doesn't that mean it can't be a juvenile?
Another idea that occurred to me - maybe it's a shelter-raised magpie? They come into contact with all kinds of birds growing up, so it wouldn't surprise me if they turned out a little confused!
Hespa
Is that the CSIRO book? If so, it's excellent.