Australian Magpies (1 Viewer)

Hi I live in Queensland Australia not far from Brisbane my Wife and I bought a house here in 2008 at first we had no birds for a few months then all of a sudden we were inundated with so many it was great. We had few a Magpies I remember a young one he had white markings on his legs and liked to stand on one leg he stayed around and our garden became his territory we named him Frank he met a mate and in 2010 they had two babies one grew up fast and left the other hung around only recently getting its adult feathers , in 2011 mr and mrs Frank had another baby we fed it same as the rest until a couple of weeks ago I noticed Frank was not here to be fed and I could not see the young one after a couple more days I found the young one dead I picked it up to bury it and all of a sudden six Magpies appeared from nowhere circling overhead spooked me a bit but I buried the bird Frank has not been seen since but a new Magpie seems to have taken his place a lot bigger than Frank he is definately with mrs Frank and the 2010 chick so to speak I guess this new Magpie may have killed Frank and the baby just thought I would ask for some expert advice I live in hope Frank is still alive somewhere I became attached to him if I was gardening he would be there with me he even came in the house from time to time I was a bit annoyed at him one day drinking a beer I left outside briefly he was standing on one leg good on him he only had a sip. I don't know much about Magpie behaviour hoping someone will say he has moved on .

I quite like Australian magpies myself, even though a pair divebombed me in NSW last October. Fortunately, on that occasion I was wearing my Aussie hat, which I bought at the koala place along from you, by the way. The call of the Australian magpie is what I like most of all about them. To wake up early one morning and hear maggies calling outside is a defining moment of any Australian holiday for me.

As for the life and death of local maggies, I hope that it is not too harsh to say that such things happen. Older birds die and, if the population is standing up, others move in and take their place. Not all young birds survive but not all need to survive to maintain the population at a healthy level. That's a bit of a simplistic view, 'tis true, but it is still quite early here and I'm about to nip out to look for choughs (red-billed)!

Allen