I have one Magipie in my garden who appears to only despise the starlings as myself , he will swoop at them regularly never injuring them , but moving them away from the food . However, he attacked two fledglings this past week - ensuring they were killed by a bite on the neck. He didn’t eat them, but tried to hide the bodies in the garden . One was moved behind a planter and another moved and dumped in a shallow bird water dish .
I swear he tries to hide the bodies so as not to upset me :) However , anybody have any bird behavior thoughts on this.
PS he is leaving the other birds alone ,
Read this again please.
Regards,
Ian.
Your response although interesting is not reflective of the question .
I think you are reading too much into it. Magpies are generalist and won't be just leaving other birds alone. They prey on small birds as well as take food put out by humans, who often encourage them. Storing food is something a number of predators do in times of plenty.