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Unusual mobbing behaviour of Magpies (1 Viewer)

cjay

Well-known member
This afternoon whilst walking along the cliff top near my home I saw seven Magpies flying from a garden to a nearby Hawthorn tree. On reaching the tree the birds went into a right ole mobbing frenzy, thus by walking through the branches they would dispel the threat, however in this case there did not seem to be any other bird in the tree except these magpies. They were then joined by a Blackbird & three House Sparrows who also joined in the frenzy. After around five minutes the mobbing ceased & all three species of bird resumed to their normal duties. On looking at the ground underneath the tree I saw a Brown Rat feeding on what looked like a discarded chicken carcass. This was obviously the cause of all the commotion.
 
My guess is they were trying to lure the rat away so they could have the chicken for themselves

Once saw several Magpies cooperating to rob a Herring Gull of the worms it was catching - the gull was foot-paddling on wet grass (which makes worms surface). Every time a worm came up, one of the magpies would grab the gull's tail and pull, the gull would turn on its tormentor (who then ran off a bit to safety), and one of the other magpies would grab the worm. They took turns in doing this, so every magpie got its worm. Eventually, the gull gave up and flew off.

Michael
 
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