Australian Magpie [OP]: Biology and Behaviour of an Unusual Songbird

by Gisela Kaplan

The warbling and carolling of the Australian magpie are familiar to many although few of us recognize that it ranks among the foremost songbirds of the world. Its impressive vocal abilities, its propensity to play and clown, and its willingness to interact with people, make the magpie one of our most well-known birds.

This insightful book presents a comprehensive account of the behavior of one of Australia's best-loved icons. It reveals the extraordinary capabilities of the magpie, including its complex social behavior, in a highly readable text. The author brings together much of what we know about the magpie’s biology and behavior, including her latest research on magpie vocalization as well as aspects of anatomy, physiology, development and health not published previously.

Genres: Nonfiction, Birds, Australia, Science, Nature, Animals, Environment

152 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Australians have just voted the magpie as their favourite bird, though I think I prefer the pink and grey galah for its wild sense of play.
https://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgu...
the white-backed magpie male.
Magpies are widespread across the country; have adapted to urbanisation reasonably well; are strongly territorial which must cause problems when they migrate seasonally; very intelligent with long memories, and can clearly distinguish between humans, remembering those they like and those they don't.
We have a family whose territory crosses our large garden into the neighbour's and we can observe them close up most of the year, especially in spring when they have babies and teach them to hear worms and grubs under our lawn. we don't need to aerate it, the magpies do that for us.
Kaplan has studied Australian magpies for years. This book is wonderfully informative and highly recommended for anyone interested in bird behaviour and intelligence.

[T.D. Whittle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I are a bit nutty about our local birds and we live in Victoria, Australia; so we find Gisela Kaplan's books a pleasure to read. They are scholarly without being dry and beautifully presented. Birds are so much more fascinating and intelligent than many or perhaps most people suppose, and some of our Australian birds are the brightest of the bright, with quite complex songs and social arrangements. I highly recommend both The Australian Magpie and Bird Minds.

[Xanthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often sit outdoors during my breaks at work and I gradually became familiar with a group of magpies that live in the area. I would watch them and even interact with them a bit. I found myself giving names to a few and looked forward to seeing them. I realized, although growing up with them all around me, I knew very little about them. The struck me as intelligent, outgoing birds. So I was pleasantly surprised when my partner handed me this book. I was learning things I never knew about Australian magpies, right from the very first page and that continued right to the last. The book gets rather technical in places, but not so much that it lost me. Lots of photos to enjoy, too. Having read this book, I am now a little wiser as to their behaviours and lives, and watch them with even greater interest.

[Kosta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an awesome, super in-depth summary of the current knowledge around aussie magpies, perfect book for those curious as I was :)
The only reason it's not 5 stars from me is that it's a tough read in parts. It says it's for the general reader, but I found myself struggling with the scientific/academic language in places. That said, it's summing up a lot of quite complex knowledge so if you're lucky enough to have a background in science to understand some of the lingo this is a terrific book on the subject

[Katharine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow, I loved this book. I've recently become fascinated by Magpies, having recently watched a pair raise three chicks in my front yard. I've always been interested in animal behaviour, and Magpies are very complex.

There is just so little around on Magpies - I really wanted to go into depth in terms of how they've evolved, their similarities to other types of birds (eg sharing a lot of traits with birds of prey), how they differ around Australia, their complex social structure, the reason for so much of their behaviour, how the make that amazing warbling sound etc.

I learnt a lot from this book, and it has made my observations of and interactions with my family of magpies more interesting.

Something else I learned was how much we don't know about Magpies, so I'm looking forward to the continuing research, and I hope we hear more from Gisela Kaplan.

(PS I read the printed book, but the cover actually looks like the Kindle cover with the blue strap rather than the green strap as with this one)

[Pablo Palet Araneda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I enjoyed so much, particularly the chapters of social development, communication and mimicry, and song production. It was not anthropomorphism but Magpies have a real developed society. It's incredible also how the specialists can research and understand avian behavior. What a patience! I see with different eyes my fellow magpies now. I will miss them a lot when going back to my country!
I forgot to say that it deserves a better edition, correcting some fails and especially with full color photos.

[Elysee · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say Kaplan is a magpie expert would be an understatement- and she encapsulates her knowledge concisely and eloquently in this book. She has done a wonderful job at making all aspects ornithology including anatomy, the physics and biology of song, behaviour, etc etc accessible for a wide audience.

I also appreciate the structure of the book with its well organised chapters and I particularly LOVE how the referencing was done. Perhaps this is applied to all CSIRO publications, BUT whatever it is, it is so great to have a each chapter’s references at the end of each chapter, as well as at the end of the book itself. A big gripe I have with many non-fiction books is how the references and/or footnotes are in one humungous clump at the back of the book- requiring the reader to flip back and forth for a substantial amount of time which personally is tedious and knocks me out of my “reading rhythm”.

Kaplan has also incorporated the literature very well within the text, and I am very keen on doing some further reading referenced in this book.

My minor minor gripe is that Kaplan does tend to anthropomorphise magpies a fair bit- which I admit I do a lot on a daily basis for all animals. But I would appreciate a more scientific and objective approach when it comes to a book such as this. Nevertheless I do see it’s benefits for entertainment purposes. It is also only used when describing behaviour and doesn’t affect the data and analysis.

Anyway a great read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[DianeM · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a gift. But, it was a truly wonderful gift.
If you are a bird lover of any kind, you will find this book immensely rewarding. It is chock full of information about biology and behaviour of one of Australia's most favoured and loved songbirds, the Magpie. Kaplan engages the reader through a mix of observational stories and supported scientific information: providing fascinating insights, such as the fact that Australia is the 'cradle of all true songbirds" . It is well set out and makes for very easy reading.
Very happy to add this to my small but growing collection of bird books.

[Cathryn Wellner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hearing an Australian magpie for the first time, I was struck by the beauty of its song. Both the voice and the body were so different from what I was accustomed to with North American magpies. Gisela Kaplan's scholarly yet approachable book makes me all the more of an admirer of this clever bird, which has adapted so well to human-populated surroundings. Their frequent willingness to befriend their human neighbours gives us the opportunity to observe and admire a bird whose intelligence is astounding.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly interesting and entertaining book that gets the balance right on providing facts and data without sounding too technical or confusing. I found it very easy to read and got through it quickly because it was so interesting.

[Dr Susan Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent monograph on this iconic Australian bird with good photos and much new information on their biology and lifestyle

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative biography on the intelligent and friendly Magpie

[Nicole Shortis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved learning about our amazing back yard birds. So beautiful and so intelligent. I just love them and their beautiful song.

[Frances Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant book and worth keeping a printed copy on my shelves as a permanent reference. Can't wait to find more of her works on birds.