Best nest
February 23rd 2009 19:37
Black-billed magpie
In what may be a first in the bird world, two magpies have constructed a nest using metal sticks.
The nest, built in a tree among the high-rises in Hong Kong's Tuen Mun district, was built from more traditional materials plus about 40 metal sticks apparently pilfered from a nearby construction site.
Cheung Ho-fai, of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, said it was the first time he had heard of a nest being built with metal.
The magpie is already renowned as the only non-mammal known to be able to recognise itself in a mirror. It just added metallurgy and construction engineering to its résumé.
Magpie facts: pairs stay together year-round and for life unless one dies, in which case the remaining magpie finds another mate; they nest once a year, but will re-nest if their first attempt fails; the female lays up to nine eggs, but the average clutch size is between six and seven; only the female incubates, for 16 to 18 days, the male feeding the female throughout incubation; the young fly three to four weeks after hatching, feed with adults for about two months, and then fly off to join other juvenile magpies; the life span of a magpie in the wild is four to six years.
news.com.au, en.wikipedia.org
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