https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-22/magpies-show-cooperative-behaviour-by-removing-tracking-device/100851458

>>During our pilot study, we found out how quickly magpies team up to solve a group problem. Within 10 minutes of fitting the final tracker, we witnessed an adult female without a tracker working with her bill to try and remove the harness off of a younger bird.

Within hours, most of the other trackers had been removed. By day three, even the dominant male of the group had its tracker successfully dismantled.<<

The actual paper: https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2247

buffy said:

magpies-show-cooperative-behaviour-by-removing-tracking-device

aha we knew it corvids are smarter than antivaccine-COVID-19s, if the corvids think they have tracking devices attached they’re able to remove them, but the antivaxxers …

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-22/magpies-show-cooperative-behaviour-by-removing-tracking-device/100851458

>>During our pilot study, we found out how quickly magpies team up to solve a group problem. Within 10 minutes of fitting the final tracker, we witnessed an adult female without a tracker working with her bill to try and remove the harness off of a younger bird.

Within hours, most of the other trackers had been removed. By day three, even the dominant male of the group had its tracker successfully dismantled.<<

The actual paper: https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2247

:)

I like magpies.

Michael V said:

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-22/magpies-show-cooperative-behaviour-by-removing-tracking-device/100851458

>>During our pilot study, we found out how quickly magpies team up to solve a group problem. Within 10 minutes of fitting the final tracker, we witnessed an adult female without a tracker working with her bill to try and remove the harness off of a younger bird.

Within hours, most of the other trackers had been removed. By day three, even the dominant male of the group had its tracker successfully dismantled.<<

The actual paper: https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2247

:)

I like magpies.

fighting back against the surveillance state, that’s the spirit

I’ve been adopted by a family (I assume) of magpies, which have been hanging around my back garden over the past few months looking for a feed.

Naturally, I’ve obliged.

A couple of days ago, I noticed that one magpie, in particular, was taking its morsel of food and carefully placing it in a potted plant, say, then coming back for more. It would then take the next piece and put it in another part of the garden. This behaviour was repeated a number of times, until I stopped that particular feeding session.

I then took a quick shufti around the garden and there were all these bits of food placed in various locations amongst the plants.

They’d all gone when I went out to look about ten minutes later.

A couple of thoughts – I don’t recall whether this was a male or female maggie doing this – I wonder whether the bird was beginning to display the ‘feeding of the young’ activity … or, whether it had decided that the food was coming faster than it could swallow, so it would take a piece, hide it quickly in the garden, and then come back for seconds, thirds and how many more pieces it could snaffle before I stopped supplying the food.

AussieDJ said:

I’ve been adopted by a family (I assume) of magpies, which have been hanging around my back garden over the past few months looking for a feed.

Naturally, I’ve obliged.

A couple of days ago, I noticed that one magpie, in particular, was taking its morsel of food and carefully placing it in a potted plant, say, then coming back for more. It would then take the next piece and put it in another part of the garden. This behaviour was repeated a number of times, until I stopped that particular feeding session.

I then took a quick shufti around the garden and there were all these bits of food placed in various locations amongst the plants.

They’d all gone when I went out to look about ten minutes later.

A couple of thoughts – I don’t recall whether this was a male or female maggie doing this – I wonder whether the bird was beginning to display the ‘feeding of the young’ activity … or, whether it had decided that the food was coming faster than it could swallow, so it would take a piece, hide it quickly in the garden, and then come back for seconds, thirds and how many more pieces it could snaffle before I stopped supplying the food.

it’s called “caching”

funnier still was observing more than one
plundering the cached bits which becomes
a game of hide-and-seek and false caching

watched one sitting from a branch noting another’s
hard work then swooping down and CHANGING the
spot the original bird hid the hoard, …rinse and repeat

The scatter hoarding of food, or caching, is a widespread and well-studied behaviour. Recent experiments with caching corvids have provided evidence for episodic-like memory, future planning and possibly mental attribution, all cognitive abilities that were thought to be unique to humans.

Ogmog said:

it’s called “caching”

Thank you! Makes sense.

Ogmog said:

AussieDJ said:

I’ve been adopted by a family (I assume) of magpies, which have been hanging around my back garden over the past few months looking for a feed.

Naturally, I’ve obliged.

A couple of days ago, I noticed that one magpie, in particular, was taking its morsel of food and carefully placing it in a potted plant, say, then coming back for more. It would then take the next piece and put it in another part of the garden. This behaviour was repeated a number of times, until I stopped that particular feeding session.

I then took a quick shufti around the garden and there were all these bits of food placed in various locations amongst the plants.

They’d all gone when I went out to look about ten minutes later.

A couple of thoughts – I don’t recall whether this was a male or female maggie doing this – I wonder whether the bird was beginning to display the ‘feeding of the young’ activity … or, whether it had decided that the food was coming faster than it could swallow, so it would take a piece, hide it quickly in the garden, and then come back for seconds, thirds and how many more pieces it could snaffle before I stopped supplying the food.

it’s called “caching”

funnier still was observing more than one
plundering the cached bits which becomes
a game of hide-and-seek and false caching

watched one sitting from a branch noting another’s
hard work then swooping down and CHANGING the
spot the original bird hid the hoard, …rinse and repeat

Just wondering if this magpie hoarding of food is something that occurs in towns or where there is considerable competition for the food. In country areas where I am familiar, it is the raven that will take everything and hoard it elsewhere, whereas the magpies are very well behaved only taking what they need and leaving what they don’t need.

PermeateFree said:

Just wondering if this magpie hoarding of food is something that occurs in towns or where there is considerable competition for the food. In country areas where I am familiar, it is the raven that will take everything and hoard it elsewhere, whereas the magpies are very well behaved only taking what they need and leaving what they don’t need.

I can’t answer that with ‘my’ magpies, as they are being hand-fed. Hand-fed – as in I’m throwing the bits of food towards them and, for the most part, they are catching it in the beaks. I’m not leaving any food on the ground to be picked up as I don’t want to encourage any more ‘visitors’ which might be around.