The
Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen formally Cracticus tibicen), recently removed from membership of the butcherbird family, is one of our best-known birds. They are
highly social and extended family groups occupy territories which they defend
vigorously if/when the need arises. Attacks on humans by some magpies during
the breeding season are well known however less well known are magpie attacks
on other magpies
.
.
WARNING: This post contains images that some
viewers may find disturbing.
While
working outside on 14/01/18 I heard Magpies squabbling and went to see what the
fuss was about and found two pairs on the ground locked together and wrestling.
The two pairs were almost side by side.
Please click on photos
to enlarge.
Not a good photo however I have included it because it shows the two pairs of fighting magpies and their proximity when I first found them. |
Shortly after this photo was taken, one pair moved about 25 metres away into longer grass and continued fighting there so I then followed the pair in the shorter grass.
Using the
times recorded on the photo files the fighting pair I followed were engaged in
what looked increasingly like mortal combat for 14 minutes and 25 seconds.
Allowing for the time it took me from first observing the fight to go inside
and get the camera and return and take the first photo, at least 2 minutes, I
estimate the fight went on for at least 17 minutes.
At first I
thought the fighting was relatively harmless and would be short lived. However
as the fight went on and blood was drawn it became obvious that this was a
serious fight and not harmless play.
For the duration of the fight the two birds were locked together by at least one foot. |
Throughout
the fight it was obvious that one of the birds was dominant and generally had
the upper hand so to speak. However at times the other bird seemed to fight
back, or perhaps it was making an effort to break free then flee? The dominant
bird certainly did most of the pecking and landed more damaging blows.
At times,
they lay on their sides when I could see the dominant bird repeatedly pecking the
other bird around the face, head and neck.
The dominant bird is on the left. As they lay on their sides the dominant bird pecked repeatedly at the head area of the other bird. |
The underdog bird grabbed the bill of the dominant bird to ward off the pecks. |
A few times the fighting subsided and they lay motionless, still locked by the feet, to briefly recover their energy before the fighting continued again. |
The bird on the left has a bloody wound to the forehead. |
The injured bird also has a bloody wound to the throat and the side of the face. The dominant bird is relatively unscathed. |
After about
10 minutes of fighting the other pair broke off and the dominant bird of that
other pair flew over to the pair I was following. It initially looked like it
was joining in the fight as it landed a few pecks on the underdog bird. It then
stopped and stood by looking and carolling before walking off and leaving the
pair to fight on.
The dominant bird from the other fighting pair arrived and landed a few pecks on the underdog bird. |
Having landed a few pecks the bird then carolled before striding off. |
By this stage I was starting to think the dominant bird was going to kill or seriously maim the other one, however shortly after this photo the underdog bird escaped and flew to a nearby tree. |
The victor briefly chased the beaten bird before it took flight. |
The beaten bird takes refuge in a shrubby tree to recover before departing the area. |
The beaten bird in the photo above looks to have some dark colouring on the mantle feathers so it may be an immature bird.
Later in
the morning I found one of the beaten magpies sheltering in long grass under a
fence. Two of the local adult magpies were in a tree nearby. As I approached the
bird to see if it was OK it took off, then flew rather weakly away, down across
the river and out of our resident Magpie territory. The birds in the nearby
tree did not give chase.
The
duration and severity of this fight was impressive. I have no sure
understanding of what I witnessed and can only assume that the fight was
motivated by either defence of territory, perhaps due to invasion of territory
by birds from an adjoining territory, or perhaps it was adults driving away
off-spring from a previous season’s breeding event.
I guess I would
like to think that it was our resident magpies bravely defending their
territory against intruders and after a long and bitter fight coming out the
victors – however I have no evidence for this scenario as I do not know the territorial
boundaries of our resident Magpies and I cannot recognise “our” birds let alone
potential intruders.
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