UPDATE: Australian Magpies and their female chick

It's feathers are a lot darker than previous chicks that
have been born in the past. It's colouring is that of a 12
month old juvenile actually. ADD ONE HOUR TO THE
TIME ON THIS IMAGE - my camera's time setting is
behind by one hour.

Today I finally saw the Australian Magpie chick for the very first time. At first I was confused about the chick being a chick as it's feather colouring was too dark to be straight out of the nest. It also seems to be a little too big to be a chick just out of the nest. It is the same size as a one year old juvenile Australian Magpie. It wasn't until I took this photo (see left image) that I realised it was their new chick. The chick has been out of the nest for about a week, I'm guessing, two weeks at the most but today was my very first sighting of her.

All the Magpies' past offspring have fully grown tail feathers, whereas this chick has short tail feathers, like that of a Satin Bowerbird. When this chick grows and matures, it is going to be huge. It will easily be bigger than it's parents, in size. Whether it will grow a longer tail or not only time will answer that question. I'm not sure if this is normal or not for a Magpie chick to have short tail feathers at this stage of it's development but it seems to be able to fly okay not that I have seen her fly yet.

I was a little bit concerned when I saw this young bird, as the parents were not exactly feeding it like they have done with their previous offspring. I also believe it is a girl as the adult male was not aggressive toward the chick, even though the chick itself acted in a somewhat submissive manner (she didn't like what was happening to her older brother) on a few ocassions when it was on my front lawn when it's dad was very close by. The dad was being aggressive toward his 12 month old son that was eating food nearby.

Another indication that tells me this is a female is when the chick got frightened it ran straight toward it's mum rather than it's dad. Going on my past experiences in identifying the genders of juvenile Australian Magpies, this chick fascinates me. Not only does it act like a female but also maybe is already self-sufficient when it comes to finding food. It is very quick at adapting to my presence - on the second sighting of me it almost came straight up to me.

I now understand why I have not seen the male Magpie taking interest in feeding the chick. Male Magpies feed male chicks, and female Magpies feed female chicks - only if one chick survives and fledges. But both parents will feed the chick at some point, especially if it is a male and is quite demanding on the parents for food. This chick barely squarked at all for food when it was on my front lawn and it spent all of it's time feeding itself. That doesn't usually happen for months afterward, as it takes about 6 months before the chicks are independant enough to constantly feed themselves. If it is true that this chick is less than 2 months old, then it is very well developed for it's age. I would even say it is maturing at an advanced rate for it's age.

I've noticed, over the years that Magpie chicks, when by themselves, run to Pied Currawong females/males for comfort and protection when spooked and when on the ground. This only happens during the first year of an Australian Magpie's life. Australian Magpies and Pied Currawongs get on really well together here in Tenterfield. The only time a Magpie will attack a Currawong is when a male is experiencing increased hormone levels due to breeding and defending it's male chicks. This can occur for more than 12 months. Pied Currawongs never attack Australian Magpies.

One thing caught my attention with this female Australian Magpie chick.. she attacked a full grown Torresian Crow at one point, and the crow did not bother her or try to take her food after that. Normally the crows will attack the Magpie adults, juveniles and chicks and win but this female Magpie chick isn't putting up with the crows' behaviour at all. I have witnessed my very first aggressive female Magpie, and this girl will not only survive but become a top predator when she grows up. I will only have 2 years to study her before she begins to find a mate of her own and leaves home, assuming her sexual maturity will be the same as all other Australian Magpies ever born in Tenterfield and elsewhere in Australia. She will be one very interesting bird to study, just to see how she grows and what sort of things she does, if different to other Magpie chicks that are her same age.

UPDATE ON THIS POST (6 November 2012) - Turns out that this bird is the one year old female. She was obviously attacked by another bird and as a result had her tail feathers pulled out. At a guess, going on her reaction to a Torresian Crow that she attacked, I'd say her attacker was a Torresian Crow. Female Magpies don't attack other birds, especially crows. But crows attack Magpies.

Juvenile female Australian King Parrot

Juvenile female Australian king Parrot.
Photo taken by Eleesha Hardy, © August 2012.

Here is a photo of a juvenile female Australian King Parrot taken by my daughter late last month. As you can see the female King Parrot does not have the yellow colouring around her eyes yet. The yellow circle around the eye is only visible in adult or mature King Parrots.

The head of this bird is a green colour but it is not a deep rich green as seen in adult female King Parrots. There is also no pale green colouring in the wing feathers.

The chest and throat colouring is nearly identical to that of the adult females but the colouring is a bit on the dull side.

Currently, the only way to identify this bird from the other female King Parrots in the area is the dark green patch of feathers around her right eye. I am not sure if this same patch of dark green feathers is on the left side of her face or not. It will be interesting to see if she loses the dark green feathers or whether they get darker or lighter the more she matures. Apart from that she looks identical to an female adult King Parrot.

How to tell the difference between a male and female juvenile Australian Magpie.

A juvenile Australian Magpie - gender unknown.

This must be one of the hardest things to do. To look at the juvenile Australian Magpies at first glance they all pretty much look the same. Each juvenile, like it's parents, have their own unique feather patterns and colouring, giving them sort of fingerprint like markings on how to identify them apart from each other visually. However, going on my own study of the local juvenile Magpies when they are out and about, it is much easier to tell them apart when they are one year old or very close to that age - in Spring of each year.

Firstly, with juveniles under the age of 12 months, I have noticed that the adult male Magpie tends to mostly feed the juvenile male, whereas the adult female tends to mostly feed the juvenile female - if any, that are born. That feeding pattern can vary quickly so it is not actually reliable for identifying their genders. The young juvenile male Australian Magpie tends to act more dominant than the juvenile female, and is more demanding on it's parents for food. It seems to be louder when it squarks for food and tends to push the female or other male out of the way just so it can get all the food. Often fights break out as to who gets the food when only 2 juvenile males are born.

However, when the juveniles are one year old you can easily identify their gender by their behaviour and attitude. At the age of one year old, when the adult Australian Magpies are nesting again and the adult male becomes aggressive toward it's previous offspring, juvenile males begin to become aggressive toward other bird species (specifically Magpie Larks) and any other juvenile males within the same family unit. Juvenile males begin to mimic exactly what adult males do but due to their inexperience tend to go overboard with their fighting and chasing of Magpie Larks. Juvenile females, however, are not as aggressive and are usually reluctant to get into a fight or chase any other bird.  They are curious about why their brother/s are fighting or chasing other birds but often turn to the adult female for guidance on what to do next and how to deal with the situation. Juvenile females will mimic the behaviour of their mother.

Juvenile male Australian Magpies are generally destructive around human habitats, often destroying potted plants, ripping apart polystyrene foam containers, standing on and often crushing potted plants, and generally getting into all kinds of mischief. These juvenile males appear to be very curious about their surroundings, and have often been seen playing with various objects, natural and manmade, like how human children play with toys. This behaviour only last for one Spring but it occurs every Spring with each passing generation and I believe is a precursor to it's adult mating and nesting behaviour.

It is roughly about this age (12 months) when juvenile females begin their mimicry singing, and is how I identify, mostly, the juvenile girls from the boys. Male Australian Magpies do not mimic other sounds they hear. By this time the 2 year old offsprings begin moving out of the family unit's territory and find mates of their own. They will not leave the territory until they have definitely found a mate to mate with and have established a territory of their own in which to raise a family within.

Juvenile male Australian King Parrot

Whilst taking happy snaps of the King Parrots today, I took this quick photo of what I first thought was a female. Well, it's actually a juvenile male. Only the male King Parrots have the pale green on their wings.

Looking at this bird reminds me of a cross between a male and a female King Parrot. The bird has a half green and half red head and red belly, green back and wings. It also has the pale green markings on it's wings. Adult males have entirely red heads. The adult females have entirely green heads.

The eye colouring of the juvenile male is almost the same as the adults however it does not have the yellow colouring around the eye like the adults have. The beak colouring is also the same as the male and female adult birds.

The distinctive green colouring around the juvenile male's chest and head is what looks out of place but makes this bird look so unique. it was spotted in a small family group with an adult male King Parrot and possibly a female King Parrot or another juvenile plus 3 or 4 other King Parrots. I didn't really pay that much attention to the other birds to identify their actual genders.

How old this young male is I do not know but it was very close to fully grown, if not fully grown - length-wise. Still much more research to do on this species.