Bird of the week – Australian magpie

I would be remiss if I didn’t include this bird in the “bird of the week” feature, because I see it every week, everywhere.

It is closely related to the Northwestern crow we see everywhere in British Columbia and other related crow-birds found throughout most of North America. It is about the same size, but differs in some respects. The obvious thing is that it is not all-black, and actually features quite a lot of white. The black and white patterning is really quite handsome and striking, especially if you are not native to Australia and seeing them for the first time. Perhaps this is why it is referred to as a magpie?

Another major difference is that it does not say “caw” like a crow but has a delightful, almost computerized warbling call, which I managed to capture after some considerable effort in this short video this morning:

https://youtu.be/ZDFEjcXjltQ

Australian magpies, like all of their cousins in the crow family, are quite intelligent. You can tell by the way they look at you, somehow.

Apparently during mating season they can be quite aggressive and actually attack people. However, as my wife and I have heard, they are smart enough to recognize people and remember what people have done for them, e.g., who feeds them. So maybe the best approach with Australian magpies is to be nice to them, with the hope that they will be nice to you.