Magpies Are Awesome: Party 123120923812...

[logansrogue]

Okay, so my Mum was sitting in bed this morning, listening to our dominant male magpie do the rounds out the front of our house and go through his usual vocalisations. He's a pretty fantastic bird, in that he pushes the magpie habit of imitation to its very limits. He's been heard doing the following sounds:

- Sirens
- Other birds
- People ("Hello")
- Electronic devices (mobile phones, car security sounds)

And he had a new one in his repetoire this morning. This morning - he meowed. And not just any meow. It was the exact meow of my cat Lennon.

I shit you not.

I asked Mum, "Are you sure Lenny wasn't there talking to him?"

She said she was sure he wasn't, that the vocalisations were consistent in a pattern that the magpie went through. So, you know, colour me stunned. My big bro actually blinked, repeatedly, in that "WTF?!" way when I told him.

Odin, you are officially the coolest fucking magpie I've ever known.

Comments

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

One of the maggies at Tech Park in Bentley was called R2D2. Where he learned that particular skill I don't know, but this was the site for all sorts of interesting companies.

[shantari.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that a bird capable of meowing has some sort of tactical advantage.

[groovekittie.livejournal.com]

You guys have magpies there too? Weird.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Teehee. Maybe someone had a mobile phone ring tone of D2 that he took a shine to?

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

A HUGE tactical advantage. Also being a good size and having a beak that can blind said cat at short range also helps.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

They're different from your magpies. See, what happened with Australia is that the Brits came down here and started naming all the similar animals after animals they knew back at home. Hence our ravens were called crows, our black and white hunting birds with a warbling voice were called magpies, etc. etc. Of course that makes looking for certain animals on the web a pain in the arse, cause I have to find the specific scientific name for them rather than the colloquial name, or put "Australian" before everything!

Australian magpies have an intelligence not unlike crows and ravens, are personable and talkative. I absolutely *love* our local friends.