In Defence of Crows

[willedoo]

On 10/09/2024 at 4:49 PM, octave said:

 

Something I have noticed is that in the past they seemed to make contact with the helmet but lately seem to go for the ears.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/315557416917?_skw=Medieval++Helmet&itmmeta=01J7JXD9GZ5F5FZD6AZQ4BKDYB&hash=item4978b00fd5:g:2zAAAOSwPAVmVhx-&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlrF%2B62eY91%2FTEPhqKnffGrLtmo9xfF%2Bfx3MdJuYvTcfdYce6cYgnkXzL5RJvmp2xgDp0YFW%2Bsq7hvwAfLqGCCwNx4TISbPAhLk8qr9ek6jWnj5dgMruNdttQVFcKFWWZ3C6xFKnvU7r9BH%2FJABG6kXhulXLspBkJv3lrHl5T3cZldn3CBWrlOd3dPGb7He5%2FQKOOAN%2BfWEI%2BX2cHjuZvH9kVgGDVTRxvYC4GGp7p7SuUdArfHB1DMWrCZ9Wlby%2Fk6dePAsOMt%2BCWjPqZyjIL%2B1UIpRJgyZGA09dkPBDFLPng%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9CYtd28ZA

 

 

[red750]

Ear, ear.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I never heard about the guy with his eye pecked out, but in Edenhope, there was a letter-delivering lady who got lots of magpies killed cos they frightened her. I was, and still are, angry at her. I may have bought her a helmet, but that's all.

We have lots of magpies around here, and I really like them.

[Bruce Tuncks]

The main enemy of the magpies are the kookaburras, they seem to hate each other.

[old man emu]

Suburban development has had a positive effect on magpie numbers. Suburbanites like their manicured lawns. Grubs and bugs like to chew at grass roots. Magpies love to eat grubs and bugs. Therefore, more grass lawn + more grubs and bugs = more magpies.

[octave]

I also like magpies although not keen on the 10% of male magpies that get a touch aggressive every September although they are just protecting their young.

 

Here is a website where you can report attacks and also be alerted to locations with aggressive magpies.

 

Australia's Magpie Swooping Map 2024!

 

The red one is the extra aggressive one that got me.

 

[nomadpete]

If you can get to know your magpies, they won't attack you. Several times, I have seen magpies attack newcomers to their territory (in breeding season), and leave us regulars alone.

Don't ask me how to make it happen. But the magpies are smart enough to recognise individual people.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Wow nomad, yep they sure are smart birds. Once, I hit one with an electric model plane prop and I felt bad when it plummeted down to be joined by it's mate on the ground. I didn't want to disturb their grief, but half an hour later, the crook one had recovered enough to fly away!

I had noticed that well-known people were not swooped, but dogs sure were, especially black and-white border collies.

I love how they ( the magpies) are so unafraid that they will fearlessly attack. Mind you, where I used to live, the tiny little birds we called willy-wagtails used to chase the magpies away.

 

[Marty_d]

Advice from The Guardian...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/15/magpie-swooping-season-is-here-but-you-can-avoid-attack-if-you-play-by-their-rules

[willedoo]

Birds sure are clever. I only get the very occasional magpie visit at my place as they know it's the resident raven's patch. However, they must know that I feed the raven. One magpie appeared on the verandah rail with a crook leg he couldn't put weight on. It didn't stop him from perching (standing on one leg) or flying but he couldn't walk to hunt for food. He knew it was a good bet I'd feed him until his leg got better and that's exactly what happened. Once he could walk again a week later he left and went back to his own territory.

[onetrack]

I'm surprised at how nearly all meat-and-bug-eating birds, won't touch dead meat, or dead bugs - they like them alive and warm and wriggling. But crows love anything dead, and actually seem to prefer carrion to a lot of other types of food.

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

I'm surprised at how nearly all meat-and-bug-eating birds, won't touch dead meat, or dead bugs - they like them alive and warm and wriggling. But crows love anything dead, and actually seem to prefer carrion to a lot of other types of food.

Each to their own.

Most of us prefer our meat not too wriggly. Are we more like crows than we like to admit?

 

[Litespeed]

Yes,

some birds refuse to eat it unless it's alive and healthy. 

 

My mate Zoro, the super model of birds - a Greater Egret,  will only eat live fish, prawns and squid. 

 

I can feed him live ones, which he will take, but if it's not fighting to get away, he looks carefully and refuses it. Does the smart dog thing of tilting his head to show he is thinking about it and weighs the risk.

 

Zoro will now come when called to fish on the verandah and always hoots to say hello. Funnily if he misses a catch, he will grunt and hoot in disgust as he does if disturbed by others on the dock. He clearly communicates differently for the circumstances. He even has different speech to tell the Night Heron to "fuck off, I am king of the dock".

 

He even hangs out looking inside the boat through the glass door to see what's up. If the doors open he will poke his head in to check us out.

He is a absolute character and given he arrived as a adult, he is remarkably friendly for a wild predator.

 

If he catches one that won't fit head first down his throat, he drops it on the dock for us to have. He has done this with really big Garfish, too big to safely swallow. He always orientated the animal to slide down head first, this stops the risk of a fin or spine catching in his throat- that would be fatal.

 

The Cormorant that always fishes under my friend's houseboat is a massive greedy guts and will swallow fish half his weight easily.

Watching them hunt blows me away, they can fly underwater faster than most fish ever swim and be under for minutes. A perfect hunter above or below the surface.

 

Sorry the pic is from crap phone. Zoro is 3 feet away, as I drink a beer and he fishes. Note he is growing his Sexy feathers on his back and will soon have bright red legs and his beak will change from yellow to green. Then he will dance the fantango and find a mate.

 

Living on the water in a world renowned RAMSAR bird sanctuary sure has its benefits.

[red750]

We've discussed the intelligence of crows. Now check out the logic of this cat.

 

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1262511565175795

[onetrack]

Red, that's not a cat video, you have the wrong FB link.

[red750]

Sorry about that. Unfortunately I can't go back and get it. A stuff-up with the copy and paste.

[onetrack]

Is this the same cat? The craftiness of this cat is amazing. I'm trying to figure out how he knew the wedge was stopping the door from opening?

 

 

 

[nomadpete]

I had a cat that I used to lock in the laundry at night. Each morning he made a terrible racket. So I spied on him an discovered that when he woke up he wanted to come out to us, so he would leap up and hang off the door handle with one paw, and with the other, pull down the handle to unlatch the door. The racket was created because he couldn't work out how to makel the door swing inwards to open it.

 

When I let him out, he would go straight to our bathroom and open the sliding door to let the dog out so the pair could come and say 'good morning' to us.

 

The more I know about people, the more I like (other) animals.

Edited September 19 by nomadpete

[red750]

Yes, that's the clip I hoped to copy.

[willedoo]

The kookaburras killed a sugar glider at my place yesterday. The sugar gliders have lived in the roof ridge cap on and off for a long time. Around mid morning I heard a thumping noise outside and went to investigate thinking it was the bush turkeys getting into something. A kookaburra had the dead sugar glider in it's beak and was bashing it against a piece of timber while his mate looked on.

 

It's a bit of a mystery how it all happened. The sugar gliders are normally safely located in the roof by the time any kookaburras are out and about. They go out every night to feed and usually come back around daybreak. I did hear some unusual noises before all this happened. I guess it's possible the sugar glider lost it's grip and fell and the kookaburra got it on the ground. In the photo you can get an idea of the most exposed they ever get in daylight hours. They sometimes poke their heads out of the ridge cap, but it's hard to see a kookaburra flying into a confined area like that and successfully grabbing one.

 

[willedoo]

It was a very small sugar glider, not much bigger than a large rat, so maybe one of the kids.

[onetrack]

The Kookaburras are ruthless killers, Harry Butler hated them with a vengeance for killing all his great snakes. They're terrors on snakes, they snatch them up and beat the crap out of them.

[willedoo]

They certainly have no fear of humans. If I put out some tucker for my raven mate, if the kookaburras have been lurking in wait they'll swoop down on it. I have to physically push them away from the food. The fact that you are standing right beside them is no problem to them, it takes a shove to move them. They are real gluttons and remind me of the pigs in Shaun the Sheep.

 

The raven is smart and knows the routine. If the kookaburras try to get his food, I chase them away and confiscate the food so they lose interest and clear out. The raven will patiently wait around as he knows the kookaburras have a short attention span and that I'll bring the food back out when they are safely gone.

[willedoo]

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but my resident raven mate has lived here for quite a few years as one half of a breeding pair. It was quite educational watching them raise and train their brood every year. His wife disappeared about eighteen months ago and I assume she died. Mr.Crow as I call the raven (it sounds better than Mr. Raven) has been on his own until recently and now seems to have a permanent friend. I don't think it's a friend with benefits as he's probably past that due to his age. I certainly haven't seen any hanky-panky like cuddling together on a tree branch or mutual preening.

 

But she seems to be a permanent presence these days and he calls out to her when there's food around and warns her when there's a threat. If the female of a breeding pair dies, the male will keep his territory and find a new mate, whereas if the male dies, the female will vacate the territory. I suspect she's a lonely widow he's found and he's invited her to shack up with him. It's possible they're just an old couple who have both lost their former partners. It makes sense to me as ravens who have spent most of their lives as part of  breeding pair would probably find it hard to go and join the general murder when they lose their partner. From his point of view, better to find an old boiler and continue living a relatively secluded life separate from the general crowd.

[willedoo]

It's interesting how the different bird species get on with each other. The raven and the butcher birds seem to tolerate each other ok although they compete for food. All the honeyeater species get on well together and the butcher birds get on with them ok. It's not unusual to see a butcher bird and honeyeaters rubbing shoulders around the bird bath. Yesterday a butcher bird was having a bath and he had an audience of noisy miners standing in a ring around him waiting for their turn. It's only a small bath consisting of one of those enamel wash basins you buy from the camping places.

 

I've seen a similar thing before when the raven was in the bath. Because of his size he takes up most of the bath. He was happily splashing away while directly above him perched on the guttering was a line of noisy miners with one lone butcher bird on the end of the line, all looking down at the raven. They don't fear the raven, but for security the smaller birds keep a few feet distant from him. The kookburras on the other hand are disliked by all the other birds. They're like the beagle boys of the bird world.