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Re: RE: Magpie and the Hawk

I have witnessed this!

A few years ago, I was in the back yard cleaning the muck out of the
goldfish pond.  I had a border collie (that we lost just over a year
ago to an intranasal tumor) and he HATED Magpies.  He must have done
something to a Magpie in the yard because I heard the birds going
absolutely CRAZY.  I left the pond (and all of the joy cleaning the
muck entails) and walked to the back of the yard.  There, by the
fence, was a Magpie lying on the ground. There must have been 20 other
Magpies perched on the fence cawing. They would fly down in pairs, or
alone, and pull on the feathers and try to "wake" the dead Magpie up. 
It was really sad, and very touching.  I went and buried the Magpie
that had died.  There was not any visible injury, I always wondered if
Tip gave it a heart attack or something.

The Magpies KNEW something was wrong with their friend, and did
everything they could to get him back.  It was really, really sad in
its own anthropomorphic way.

Brenda,
South Weber

On 12/24/05, cldavis@xmission.com <cldavis@xmission.com> wrote:
> If the hawk had gotten the magpie, then afterwards the rest of the magpies
> would probably have held what is known as a "magpie funeral".  A man at
> work told me he witnessed one of these in his backyard.  He was drawn
> outside because there were a bunch of magpies making the loudest noise he
> had ever heard them make. They repeatedly flew down from his fence, where
> they were all lined up, to a dead magpie. Each took its turn pulling and
> poking at the dead bird like they were trying to revive it. For those who
> haven't heard of this strange behavior, here's a story I stole off
> Cornell's site:
>
> "That's sure what Nancy Marsh of Aspen, Colorado, thought she was watching.
> After a magpie died in her yard, she observed, "Seven magpies came and
> gathered around the dead bird. They were making lots of noise, hopping
> around. Every now and then one would pull at a wing or leg on the dead
> bird. They took turns doing this. Some would fly to nearby low branches,
> still 'talking' and then fly back by the bird. One by one they flew away,
> leaving one live bird who stayed on the ground next to the dead bird and
> leaned close and squawked several times and then flew away. The incident
> lasted about fifteen minutes." This behavior pattern is often observed in
> birds of the corvid family. Researchers believe the birds are trying to
> understand what happened and learn how to avoid a similar fate. They may
> also be trying to revive the dead bird."
>
>
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