G ' day and Merry Christmas to all
We are lucky to have many birds visit but we are concerned about two magpies.
One a femail has lost her tail and she looks dishevelled but she flies about . The male looks excellent and struts about and is very friendly having called over the last several years.
Today the male was discovered laying on our steps in the sun with his eyes shut and his beak open - I thought he was dead but my wife said to get a dish of water and see if he would take a drink but as I popped down beside him he stood up shook himself and flew into a tree over our fence and then off and away
we have never seen this before - is that usual and might the femail be moulting
appreciate your opinions
peter
The male magpie was most likely sunning himself, it's common for lots of birds to do that .
The birds are sunning themselves, like Nathan says. They are spreading their wings to expose as much surface area as possible. Also fluffing their feathers, dropping their wings, spreading their tails, or like Doves raising their wings to expose the underparts.
Birds can also convert their preening oil into Vitamin D that way. It's also important to get rid of parasites.
All this is healthy and enjoyable bird behaviour.
M-L
It does look weird doesn't it?
One of our young magpies that hang around our office was doing this a couple of weeks ago - but resting right on the border between the lawn at the long grass and Casurina trees. I approached thinking he was sick or dead too as he looked very awkward (as I couldn't see closely from our window) but he was just sunning himself.
The female could be having a moult but she may have got in a rumble with another magpie or have some sort of parasite or similar - very hard to know.
Losing the all tail feathers could be a sign of failed predation. Is there a powerful owl in the neighborhood? I spotted the same thing with local pigeons, every now and then one would have all it;s tail feathers, a large patch of it's back feathers removed and a limp. Alway the exact same thing. I then found out that there is a Powerful Owl around this neck of the woods regulary. (Wooloomooloo and Potts Point NSW) They quite often have a go at magpies.
Old age affects everyone, if the male is around seven years old (not sure how long they live for) then he is not a young fella. The heat will knock the older birds down quickly.
An excessive moulting will also make some birds a bit off colour too. A female that cannot discharge an egg from within will also be very sick/lethargic until the egg passes.
Found a dead Pink Galah on the back lawn two weeks ago on a very hot day here, no visible signs of sickness or rumpled, perfect condition, just expired. Old age, or heart attack due to the heat, or combination of both?
If a bird is lethargic, disorientated and has a foul discharge from the beak or vent (bottom) it has a bird disease (canker etc) or has eaten/taken a bait. Meat eating birds often taken baits or eat dead rats/mice that have expired due to poisoning, and thus the bird ingests same toxin.
We all reach our use-by date and our feathered friends included.
Where is "here", Raven?