Howdy, friends. This week’s selection was suggested by a friend and colleague who follows along with the WPT via pictures of birds I leave saved to the desktop of various circulation desk computers.
Our bird this week is the magpie-lark, a medium-sized bird native to Australia, Timor and a little sliver of southern New Guinea. Ubiquitous throughout its range, the magpie-lark is well adapted to human presence. It feeds on any small critter it can find, including insects and worms, but more generally, anything it can successfully hunt and consume. It is sexually dimorphic, the female has a white throat and the male has a black throat and white flashes above the eyes.
Because it benefits from the presence of low-cut grass and shallow water, it has benefited greatly from deforestation and land being used for agriculture. Although the magpie-lark nests in trees, it does not need a forest environment to thrive, preferring open wetlands, creeks, farms, parks and suburban lawns.
Magpie-larks form loose flocks and will perch on the edge of their territory, on the lookout for intruders or mates. They will vociferously defend their territory, including from bigger birds. I also found a sign from Adelaide, Australia warning of attacks against humans from both above and below. It specifically warns against throwing anything against the attacking bird, as this will only serve to intensify its efforts. The birds attack resolutely, and I found a site which said that they tend to go for the eyes, which makes for a much more alarming sentence than I first wrote about this swooping behavior. There is even a website called “magpie alert” that tracks and maps reported swoops and injuries (if any) on a daily and yearly basis in Australia. On a less scary note, the magpie-lark is also known to attack windows and mirrors, thinking the reflection is an encroaching stranger.
Breeding pairs mate for life, I could not find a footnote for the possibly facetious claim that some “divorces” have been observed. Both parents will work together to build a nest of grass and twigs coated in mud. They will both incubate the eggs, although the nests are often too small to hold all of the chicks, and larger chicks may muscle out smaller ones to their doom.
Magpie-larks are big on duets. Many kinds of birds sing together, and there are a variety of theories on why. This phenomenon is poorly understood because much of the research on duets is based in the northern hemisphere, leaving a lot of birds unstudied. Theories about duets include that it is done to defend territory, or, by joining in the song, broadcast to the community that the other singer is your mate.
In the case of magpie-larks, they do it to establish and defend their territory. They will respond with much more vigorous song to a duet than a single bird calling, and will really give it their all if the rival duet sounds like it comes from an unfamiliar pair of birds as opposed to a known neighbor.
Looks like there is some interesting stuff to learn about how and why birds sing duets, but in the absence of more research, I’m going to say that my favorite fact this week is that the magpie-lark is neither a magpie nor a lark, it is a member of the monarch flycatcher family. The magpie-lark is rated “of least concern” by the IUCN. It has a very large range and its population appears to be increasing due to deforestation. Have a good weekend, everyone. Be kind to yourselves and others.
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