other names
Black-Backed Magpie or Western Magpie

..
DESCRIPTION

Male: (Black-backed) Mostly glossy black with prominent white nape, white shoulders and wing band, white rump and under-tail and tail with black tip. Eye red / brown.

Female: Nape is greyer in colour, duller black.

Juvenile: Duller colours and more mottled, bill shorter and greyer in colour, eye black.

Voice: Call is a loud shout and descending caw in alarm or warning; shrieking yodel in aggression. Young beg with whining cawing. Song is organ-like fluted carolling, often in group duets

The Magpie is one of Australia's best known birds and is quite common throughout the continent. It is found in bushland, farmland, cities and country towns in all states and territories, although there are several sub-species, being the Black-Backed, White-Backed, Tasmanian and Western Magpies. The Magpie has a caroling song which is really a call to pronounce its permanent territory. It lives in a complex social system, usually in a family group with a dominant male, a few females, sub-ordinate males, juveniles and fledglings. Each group normally has one dominant female where the flocks defense and support are concentrated. Smaller groups of displaced Magpies, without a permanent territory, are at the bottom of the social ladder. The Magpie is often seen as an aggressive bird in breeding season, swooping on unsuspecting people and animals to defend its nests. However, if the bird is left alone and not threatened it will not tend to attack intruders. Breeding season is from June to December. The nest is built in forks of trees, usually high in the tree canopy. Between 1 and 6 eggs can be laid and are normally incubated by the female for 20 days. The young are fed by both parents, and sometimes helpers within the flock. Young fledge at about 28 days but stay at heel for several weeks, being fed by both its parents until it is evicted or becomes a lesser member of the group.