HENRY
THE
MAGPIE
B y T o n y V i n c k x
C o p y r i g h t D i s c l a i m e r This publication is for personal, private, and educational purposes only. No claim is made as to the accuracy or authenticity of this publication. No person is permitted to use the publication for personal gain, profit, or commercial purposes.
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This publication was written, edited, and designed by Tony Vinckx, 2024
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HENRY THE
MAGPIE
My name is Henry, and I am a popular Australian native bird known as the Australian magpie. Today, I am going to share some information about our species.
Like all magpies, we have a mixture of black and white feathers, we have red eyes, a blue-grey bill with a dark tip, our legs are black, our head, belly and tail tip are all black, and on our shoulders, wings, lower back, tail, and the back of our head, we have splashes of white.
My partner’s feather colours are slightly different. While I have white feathers on my back, she has spotted white and grey feathers. We live in most areas of Australia, and we live up to 30 years of age.
My partner and I will live in the same place our whole lives.
That means we will stay in the same area, in the same town, and live on the same street for our entire lives.
We prefer a place that has one or more tall trees, such as a gum tree, with a lot of open space and grassland. During the day, we fly to nearby trees in our space to spot any intruders and walk on the ground to look for food.
Did you know the top of my head is called the crown. The bill is what we use to eat. The breast is the largest part of our front body. Another name for our back is called the mantle. The back of our neck is called the nape, and our tail is what we use for flying.
Did you know that feathers keep us warm, protect us from the cold and rain, and they give each magpie their unique colour markings. The main feathers that cover our body are called vaned feathers, and the feathers in the wings and tail are called primary flight feathers, which we use for flying.
We enjoy singing in the morning before dawn and just before nighttime. This is known as carolling. Other magpies in the area will often join us, and we sing together in a duet.
During the day, we spend a lot of time looking for food in our territory. We use our bills to probe the grass and soil to find food. We like to eat worms, snails, and different insects such as cockroaches and ants. We will also eat grain and birdseed.
We can hear the sound of grubs and worms living under the soil, so if you ever see us turn our heads to one side while walking across the grass, that’s because we are hunting for food?
My partner will create a bird nest in a large tree during the breeding season. The nest is shaped like a bowl and is made of sticks and twigs. The inside is lined with soft materials such as grass, hair, and tree bark.
The bird nest is about 15 meters above the ground. Each year, we lay a clutch of two to five eggs. The eggs are greenish or light blue in colour, oval-shaped, and measure about 3 to 4 cm.
My partner will keep the eggs warm for approximately three weeks, and then one or more baby magpies or chicks will be born. We continue feeding the chicks for about 4 weeks before they are ready to fly.
The chicks will open their eyes around 10 days old. They are born naked, but fine baby feathers will begin to grow after the first week they are born.
Mum mostly feeds the baby magpie, while I search for food and bring it back to the nest. After 30 days, the chicks are now called juveniles, and are ready to fly with mum and dad.
Within 3 months, our baby magpies will reach an age where they can feed themselves and may live with us for another 8
months or more. At this point, they are now mature and ready to move out. They may join a group of other young magpies, until they either find their own territory or meet a partner.
During breeding season, it’s common for new male magpies that have moved into your neighbourhood to become aggressive and may swoop and attack people walking past or riding their bikes, if they come too close to the nest.
The boys will do this to largely intimidate people by flying low and fast above their heads, while peak clacking and screeching.
Not all male magpies will do this. It's only because they are new magpies that moved to your area and do not yet recognise the people living in their space.
We are known to mimic over 30 different species of native birds and have been known to impersonate dogs and horses. As a well-known native songbird, it is even common for a trio of magpies to break into a song, where we tilt our heads back, expand our chests and move our wings backwards.
Did you know our wings have lightweight bones, which helps us fly easier. We also have strong muscles in our wings to help us fly and keeps us moving. Our wings are curved in the same way a plane’s wings are shaped. This allows air to push us along as we flap our wings and help us take-off and stay in the air. We can also glide when we stretch out our wings.
If you hear us clapping our bills at other birds or see us expanding our chest whilst moving our wings backwards at other birds, this means we do not like those birds sharing the same space. This is our way of defending our territory.
If a Sulphur crested cockatoo perches in my backyard while I'm eating, I will fluff my feathers, fly above them, and squawk loudly to get them to leave my area.
We enjoy sharing the same living space with people. We can recognise people living in our area through their faces and if we know you will not harm us, and we think you’re a nice person, we will become your friend.
It’s common for people in our area to feed us in their backyards, but never feed us bread, rice, raw mince or fast food. Dry dog or cat food, crickets or meal worms are good for us.
Please do not give us too much food, because we need to eat natural foods from the wild, so we can get our calcium, vitamins, and minerals, else we will suffer from health problems, and get very sick.
We are also very sociable, so if we get to know you’re a nice person, we will not attack you, but rather we will fly into your backyard to say hello.
We sleep at night and fly and
eat during the daytime. We use
our eyes to find food mostly on
the ground.
In rural areas, we live on farms
and in the open country, and in
urban areas, we live in parks,
gardens, streets and golf-
courses.
In 1860, 1000 magpies were
introduced in New Zealand to
help control insect pests, and
today live across all areas of
New Zealand.
B l a c k
B a c k e d
M a g p i e
W h i t e
B a c k e d
M a g p i e
Did you know that magpies living in different locations across Australia have different colour markings on their backs. The white-backed magpie has white on both their back and neck and live in southeastern Australia, while the black-backed magpie has black on their back with a white neck and live in Northern Australia.
You have now finished reading the book. We hope that you have learned something new about Australian magpies.
Have a great day.
