Hello
For the last week there have intermittently been groups of magpies (as many as 15) gathering around our resident pair who are already building their nest and have their territory. The gatherings seem to be peaceable and 'chatty' so what is going on?
Apart from the obvious, a shortage of food due to it being winter, therefore there could be a plentiful supply, magpies as I'm sure you're aware, are corvids.
I'm going to stick my neck out a bit here, so I could be very wrong, and hopefully someone will correct me, but I wonder if the magpies are juveniles learning to exchange ideas between each other.
A bit like PGL for magpies.....
I know crows do this, or something very similar, but I couldn't find anything to suggest magpies do as well, and like crows, magpies are social and like crows, magpies are very intelligent.
As I said earlier, I could be wrong, and hopefully someone will correct me.
Mike
Meredith D said:Thank you for this, Mike.
You're welcome.
PGL stands for "Parents Get Lost." It's still going, which surprised me to read, founded in 1957 (before I wuz born), and is basically an outdoor education activity program for young people.
Mike
