on this sunny morning in april last year i decide to make a film on the nest building of magpies in the naive presumption that it would take me about two months to the utmost. this is the eurasian magpie or common magpie (pica pica). it is a resident breeding bird throughout europe, much of asia and northwest africa, and member of the crow family: the corvidae. the situation is ideal for filming;
the nest is built in the jasmine at the back of the noisy, little city garden. i can look down straight on the nest from a top floor window where my study is located. when the bird exactly started with the nest building i don't know, i think about a week ago. this year they started on april 2. birdwatchers have seen magpies busy with a nest already at the end of january,
sometimes even in november and december. but this concerns nests which are already built in the foregoing year or years the location of the nest is remarkable. in general magpies prefer tall trees for their bulky nest, firmly attaching them to a central fork in the upper branches. but this nest was certainly not in the top of the jasmine. there the branches are far to thin to carry a large magpie nest.
the height of this nest was only about 10 m (33ft) above the ground. magpies often build domed nests, but in this case the many branches of the jasmine above the nest seem to offer sufficient protection against predators from above. with their conspicuous black and white plumage, young magpies are an easy target. in the afternoon i saw the bird again,
struggling with a rather large, difficult, curvy twig. this was the piercing shriek of a ring-necked parakeet. we will meet this bird again in this video. here the magpie tries to deal with that same twig, oops! the twig slides a little downward. the bird notices this but doesn't go after it. all effort in vain. this magpie seems the whole day on its own, although nest building magpies always live in couples.
but not always they choose a nesting site together and begin building separate nests in different locations. during the building it is decided on which location the eggs will be laid. the nest on that location is then finished by both. you can hear the bird calling, probably the mate is in the neighborhood, but he or she doesn't appear this day. you hear a wailing seagull
and again shrieks of some parakeets. the next morning probably the male enters the scene. magpies are monogamous and the pairs often remain together over the years in the same territory, breeding on the same nest. this couple, however, is new here; it might be their first nest. at the underside of the nest the male makes some small corrections. and flies away.
he returns with some food in his beak and presents it to the female. in slow motion. this courtship feeding seems to be a sexually selected signal showing a male's willingness to invest in reproduction. visual identification of the bird's sex by physical characteristics alone can be inaccurate. this still, with both birds nicely lined up,
seen "en profile", reveals the differences in size. the male, sitting above, is about 45 cm (18 in) in length, of which more than half is the tail. females are slightly (about 10 %) smaller, but this difference (circa 5cm or 2in) is too small to observe. but the difference in tail length is noticeable. however, the tail is often occluded by branches or is pointing forwards or backwards, which makes it difficult for an observer to assess its length.
and when you can't compare the birds because one is not present, the identification of the bird's sex becomes even more difficult. with help of good-old photoshop i created an unobstructed view of the tails, indicating that the bird below seems to be the male. one could wonder if the black and white pattern of the plumage could be of help to differentiate between male and female. for instance, that white speck on the black horizontal bar on the side of the male, couldn't that be a unique mark?
to check out if the male had unique features, i made several stills, always with one bird in the nest (presumably the female) together with the other one (the assumed male), with its left side to the camera. it is known that in particular the female takes care of the construction of the interior of the nest. on every still the black and white pattern of the plumage is different, presumably the result of different postures and of folding the wings in variable ways.
this makes it impossible to use this pattern to draw a distinction between the two birds. later in this video the plumage on the back of the female became a little "untidy". on grounds of this characteristic, which was by the way not always clearly visible, i could often keep the birds separate, and that might have led to a surprising discovery... this second day of filming,
both magpies worked together on the nest. we see here one of them fiercely trying to push a horizontally held twig through the vertical branches of the tree. an impossible task. it reminds me of that famous slapstick routine. here, both birds are ceaselessly trying to get their sticks on the nest. interestingly, the bird on the left
(it think it's the female) has more success than the bird on the right! this recording shows that the female not only cares for the interior of the nest, she also takes part in the construction of the exterior. and naturally, you start filming birds building a nest, and a neighbor starts building a shed or the like. the stick falls from the nest! the bird seems to go after it.
often the male brings the nesting material, while the female arranges it. here the presumed male tries to get a hooked twig on the nest. the female doesn't help him. now the female is busy with the hooked stick the male just delivered. then a special moment. the male arrives with a twig. then he places his twig in the beak of the female.
but it seems that she accidentally drops it. it is still an example of direct cooperation or interaction between the animals. the female uses a kind of brute force "hammering" technique to get the twigs there where she wants them to be and, and at the same time strengthening the nest wall. a successful delivery by the male. it's a rainy day.
the branches are slippery. oops! not a perfect touch down. the female is carefully aligning the twigs of the inner nest-cup. now an example of a successful interaction. the male arrives with a twig and puts it on the nest. then comes the female and places her twig in the beak of the male, then he places it on the nest. in slow motion always fascinating to watch these persistent struggles
with twigs or sticks. the stick breaks! perhaps a blessing in disguise. here the male has brought a long stick to the nest. the female also grasps it. this is indeed a form of interaction, but not of collaboration. it is more a quarrel about the stick, won by the female. the next morning a surprising behavior of the female.
with her head inside the nest she spreads her wings; it seems a strategy to widen up the inner cup of the nest. the continuous struggle with twigs and sticks is certainly not over yet. courtship feeding by the male, and after that the female goes on with her work as if nothing happened. here, she's "hammering" the nest. the shivering of her outspreaded wings on top of the nest gives the idea that she makes sexual advances to the male.
but the nest is far from finished and mating usually takes place during the interval of about two weeks between completion of the nest and the start of egg laying. during that time the development of the female's sperm storage tubules is activated, although it is not known how long female magpies can store sperm in these tubules. male and female are seemingly quarrelling
about the placing of the stick. again the female wins: mother's word is law. in the background the sound of calling seagulls. later that day the female again shows that same wing shivering we saw in the morning. and again. but now her behavior might be explained. the slow motion shows that in this position, the female seems to use her legs
to rapidly kick the internal twigs in the desired position, and to smoothen the nest cup. this fifth day of filming, i hardly saw a bird at the nest. but also on the other days the pair is regularly absent for hours. in a study it was found that nest building used only about 1% of the daily energy expenditure of magpie couples. during egg laying and breeding the care for progeny will dramatically change.
pounding the twigs. feeding by the male. the wing spreading technique. we now know that she probably also uses her legs. both in the nest seems not a good idea. this is the male in the nest (which is not seen very often), his approach is rather reckless. but luckily the female arrives and quickly enters the nest to prevent worse.
to increase the strength and cohesion of the nest the male drops a piece of soil or mud into the inner nest cup. then he enters the nest, and for a rather long time he processes the new material. the female oversees the work for a short while. now the male is handling a long twig, a stick. the female returns. she drops something like a blade of grass, and dives into the nest.
the male returns and pulls the stick he was dealing with earlier, completely out of the nest. he takes the stick to the other side of the nest. not without difficulty, he gets the stick again on the nest. keep your eye on that stick, and look what happens! the male sees the stick falling down, but he doesn't go after it. he just grabs another twig.
no hard feelings. what is more, when he returns to the nest somewhat later, he preens her (with birds this is called "allopreening"). in the late afternoon something remarkable happens. the female breaks off a living twig of the jasmine and transports it to the nest. here we see the male struggling with a long stick. in the foregoing we have seen a couple of times that male or female didn't go after sticks that felt down.
this could mean that these birds have no "object permanence", the understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight. oops! he drops the stick, but immediately dives after it, indicating that he has a certain insight in object permanence. the stick still hangs in the tree. it seems the same stick, but i'm not sure. the laborious way up.
again the stick drops, but only a little. that were two great moves. he's back on the nest again. the female arrives. she gets involved with another stick. she drops the stick into the nest. the male doesn't succeed in getting his stick on the nest. he gives up, flies down and chooses another stick. and starts all over again. at last he's near the nest.
but then the female gets involved. she grabs the stick and tries to pull it upward, but it goes downward. the male tries to be of help. we've seen it before, the stick snaps. a new attempt, but there was no blessing on the long sticks today. yes, he made it. watch the stick closely.
the stick is still on the nest... both birds are back and the male tries to replace the stick. oh no! both birds have noticed the fall of the stick. the female flies downward. but will she return with the same long stick? yes she does! no, i'm wrong, it's another stick. contrary to the earlier stick,
this stick has a lateral at the end. but who cares. a stick is a stick. the male seems to take over. at last the stick is on the nest. but not for long... the male drops soil in the nest. this time the female processes the material. as we have seen before, living parts of the tree are used as nest material,
probably because those twigs are easy to bend. here the male is transporting a rather solid stick to the nest. he seems to have learned the past days. he doesn't make much use of brute force, and seems to understand that in order to move a stick through dense wood, you must pull at one of the ends of the stick. what now happens is rather remarkable. he doesn't try to get the stick horizontal on the nest,
but places it in a vertical position at the edge of the nest! he is probing several positions. this stick will stay there permanently as an important part of the nest structure, say, a load bearing nest "column". and interestingly the female doesn't remove this nest column, but seems to integrate it in here construction work. a moment later the male comes along and it looks like he's giving her a little pat on her shoulder.
again he visits the nest, now she instantly goes after him. the male delivers some mud. and again interestingly, it's the male sitting in the nest. however, as soon as he hears the female, he quickly leaves the nest. the male keeps on supplying mud. in the late afternoon the female leaves the nest. the loud, high pitched shriek probably comes from a parakeet.
a calm day, time for extensive preening between the catkins of the flowering birch. contemplation on the nest, indeed: the action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time. it is already the third day of low activity around the nest. apparently, it is declared finished by the birds. this means that within two weeks the eggs will be laid. so, around day 24 (14 days after day 10 -
the day that the couple presumably ceased nest building) the egg laying and breeding should start. indeed the nest seems completed. nothing happens. only short visits by the female. the first green leaves of the jasmine become visible. this is the blossoming plum tree. the female stays this day for longer periods in the nest. no male in sight, although, according to the textbooks, it is after the completion of the nest
that mating should take place. but in any case not in front of my camera. also this day, no male. it is suggested that mating sometimes takes place in the nest. oh yes, as you can see the nest "column" is still present. regrettably, i could not film the three foregoing days, and seeing this day the female magpie sitting motionlessly, deep in the nest with only her tail visible, i had immediately the misgiving
that she had already started with egg laying and breeding. and then this happens. instantly the male comes along and feeds her. the unique begging behavior of the female magpie, consisting of shivering the outspread wings and loudly making high pitched whining calls, triggers the male to feed her almost completely during the whole breeding period. european magpies start food begging
on the day after they laid the first egg or just one day before the first egg is laid. this means that i apparently have missed the mating behaviors of the birds, for it seems likely that in magpies copulation takes place several days before egg laying. it is shown for instance that american yellow-billed magpies copulate a week or less before the first egg is laid. mating occurs inside or outside the nest,
in trees or on the ground, the male perches on top of the female, who moves her tail feathers to the side to expose her cloaca. arching back, the male rubs his cloaca against hers. this "cloacal kiss" takes less than a minute. four days ago, however, there were no signs of mating rituals at all (or it took place outside the reach of the camera). anyway, not two weeks, but nine days after the completion
of the nest at day 10, egg laying seems to have started. magpies lay eggs when the weather begins to get warmer; indeed it was rather warm this day. during the breeding period the female will regularly leave the nest for a couple of minutes, in general once or twice per hour, in order to defecate, stretch, and preen her feathers. for this sanitary break she often flies to another tree. in this way she keeps the nest clean.
bird droppings can be infected with parasites, or bacteria and viruses. this is a photograph of eurasian magpie eggs in a nest. usually 5 - 7 eggs are laid; these are often bluish-green, heavily spotted with brown and grey. they are incubated for up to 3 weeks. so we may expect hatching to occur at about day 40. i never could film the eggs;
they were lying too deep in the nest. further, it was a hopeless task to climb in the jasmine tree - or better: the shrub - to check if eggs were indeed present in the nest. the densely packed branches are far too fragile and i would ruin the shrub, including the nest. here the female again starts begging, but this time her whining call is far less forceful. she leaves the nest.
she returns and starts begging again, the male doesn't appear. out again and in, she seems rather nervous. the male feeds her shortly on the edge of the nest and flies away, she seems to follow him. somewhat later they are both back on the nest again; the male feeds her there.
after sitting in the nest for quite a while, she leaves the nest. the male is back on the nest, and quickly the female also returns and gets her food while standing on a branch of the tree. here the female shows again her full-fledged begging behavior. the male first checks the nest before he feeds her. the female seems so eager to get her food that it looks like if she mounts the male.
but that's an optical illusion, in reality she holds onto some branches and not the back of the male. for the first time the female is fed while she's in the nest. and again she's fed while sitting in the nest. the third time feeding while in the nest, this becomes the standard procedure. late that afternoon the female shows the full-fledged begging behavior outside the nest for the last time.
in research it is found that by the end of egg laying, most females begged only when their mates arrived at the nest to feed them. could this mean that our female has laid only one or two eggs? magpie eggs are usually laid at daily intervals. but let's rewind the tape a bit. the female's plumage is not in order. on her back you can see downy-like feathers, so-called semiplume feathers, protruding.
it is probably not the effect of molting. indeed, adult magpies undergo an annual complete molt, but usually this happens only after the end of the breeding period. in any case, later in this video this characteristic of the female returns and is than permanently present. two days later. a sanitary break. the frequency of the male feeding visits has considerably decreased.
afterwards the male checks the nest, that is to say, the eggs, as it seems. first day filming in may, starting with a wrong lightning adjustment. it is said that breeding magpie pairs tend to roost either alone or together within their territory during the breeding season. they seem to go to their roost before the night falls. it's getting dark, seven past nine o'clock.
10 minutes later, i can hardly see her in the dark. with "brightness and contrast" i lit up the scene, and there she is. in the background a singing blackbird. the magpie is still in her nest. for the human eye it's completely dark now. she leaves the nest and flies away at last. later it was too dark to film. pity i have no infrared on my camera,
so i'm not sure if she didn't return. it's windy day. the female stays in the nest. filming is difficult with an open window. for whole days the female sits in the nest. this day again gusts of wind. fast sanitary breaks. regularly the male feeds the female in the nest. i filmed this day uninterruptedly for one hour.
the male feeds three times. second time. third time. the female took this hour five times a break, each one for less than 2 minutes. sometimes it looks as if the female is checking the egg(s). in this hour she was only two minutes outside the nest. the male is carrying out his duties properly. the female takes a break.
this time the male stays rather long at the nest, seemingly checking the eggs. according to the literature he has still about 6 days to go before hatching. this time, feeding on the edge of the nest. this was the male calling. the female leaves the nest immediately. but no signs of life in the nest... back in 1.5 min.
day 40, the day the eggs are due to hatch... the male arrives, feeds. in this hour of filming he visited the nest a remarkable six times! he takes a long, deep view into the nest, but apparently no hatchlings. the next day i will move the camera to another window in order to obtain a less obstructed view on the nest. well, the view is not that much better. this hour, the male visits five times the nest.
here the female sneaks off the nest, which gives the male ample opportunity to inspect the nest. for the first time they sit side by side on the edge, both staring into the nest. little by little i start losing my hopes for a positive breeding outcome. later in the afternoon i made this recording of the female in the nest. she is very alert, constantly looking over the nest rim.
the whole hour that i filmed the male didn't show up. the female seems desperate; at least 10 times she goes out and in the nest. the following day, during the first hour filming the male visits once. the female's "begging" is clearly observable. the male puts food in the female's mouth. in fact the female adopts an attitude and calls, almost identical with those of a young bird
begging food from its parents. this time the male doesn't check the nest during a second hour filming two feeding sessions were recorded. here the male checks the nest after the female is flown away. the next day the male again checks the nest thoroughly. indeed, it's sunday. at 6 o'clock in the morning a ring-necked parakeet pays a visit. this is one of the few parrot species that have successfully adapted to living in west european urban areas.
in the insert the rather aggressive animal in full - from one of my youtube videos on animals "i happen to encounter". the magpie keeps herself motionless, tucked away in the nest. the male stands silently over the female. could if be that he his doubts are growing? after the call of the male she leaves the nest. is she fed outside the nest? you can hear her begging call in the distance. later this seems to happen again.
i filmed 4 hours this day. once the female left the nest for an amazing 30 minutes. this long break might indicate that the female has started foraging. the male bird didn't appear at the nest. the eggs are now one week "overtime". the next day the female in the nest is begging for food. this day the male appears. but he seems not to offer her any food.
when she's gone, he checks the nest. 25 minutes later he returns, and now he feeds her when she's in the nest. he repeats that once again this hour and again stays long at the nest. the view on the nest becomes occluded by the jasmine's leaves. so, during the absence of the female, i quickly removed with a prolonged pruner some branches in front of the nest.
at her return - it's raining now - the female didn't seem to notice the difference. in my 1-hour recordings of the foregoing days the male didn't visited her once. but as we can hear, out of view the male is clearly present. it might be that he feeds the female these days only outside the nest. the female leaves the nest for the second time in 30 min. after 4 minutes the male appears, followed by the female.
as we have seen before, side by side they stare into the nest. the male has a strange grimace on his face, notice his half-open beak. a real stormy day, the female is in the nest. nearly impossible to film with an open window. i hoped this storm would give me the opportunity to look inside the nest, but it didn't happen. the window resigned, i had to close it. the next day the male reappears, only to check the nest.
he doesn't feed the female on the nest following day, similar ritual. i filmed two hours, the male visited once without feeding. the female left the nest a couple of times, always not longer than five minutes. although the female is begging, i don't think the male is feeding her. after her departure, the male stays for minutes at the nest. in the evening the parakeet comes along.
regrettably, again only its tail is in sight. to my surprise the male, although very short, feeds the female on the nest, and this time he has no interest in the interior of the nest. the male is already at the nest as the female arrives. i'm not sure if he feeds her. the second time that she begs, he gives her in any case no food. i filmed this day for 2 hours.
the female briefly left the nest seven times, and two times for more than 10 minutes. this is the magpie nest as seen from below. it is a tall nest, built in the fork of one of the jasmine's trunks, and also nearby branches are used. it is too deep to see the eggs from above. as you might understand, climbing in this jasmine to check the eggs, is no option.
as we have seen earlier, again the protruding semiplume feathers on her back are clearly visible. semiplume feathers are found underneath contour feathers and are used for insulation. it seems that now he feeds her briefly. he visited her this hour once and stays for a rather long time at the nest. presumably the breeding started at day 19. it is now day 63,
more than six weeks later, double the standard breeding period of three weeks. for both animals this must take a great appeal to their stamina. the female sits most of the day motionless in her nest; her breaks - one to four times per hour - take at maximum 10 minutes. the male indeed seems to feed her at least once in an hour. how will this come to an end? two days later;
the male appears to be regularly feeding the female on the nest. he often stays rather long. also the female leaves and starts preening on the branch near the nest. on the right her tail is just visible. by the way, it is a hot day. here she returns in the nest. the preening had taken 10 minutes, and then she flew away, returning after 18 minutes.
thus she had been from the nest for nearly half an hour. later that afternoon i filmed again for an hour. at the end of the tape she shows up. so she had left the nest for at least one hour. it might be that the high temperature this day was the reason behind her long absences. as we see, the couple didn't abandon the nest. this day, male feeding at the nest occurs several times. interestingly when the male leaves the nest,
he pecks up something from the bottom and takes it outside the nest. so he seems to care about cleaning the nest. one of the female breaks this day takes half an hour. during her absence a daring little tit inspects the nest. the next day, when the female is already 20 minutes from the nest, again a tit enters the scene... i don't think the poor little bird survived the attack.
it happened so fast, that i can't decide who the evil-doer was, the male or the female magpie. the male keeps on feeding the female. here she returns on the nest; notice the protruding semiplumes on her back. this day her outings usually last no longer than 10 minutes. three days later something unusual happens. the couple seems involved in an extensive chat. magpies have one of the most developed 'vocabularies'
in the animal world. in their name "magpie", the "mag" part stands for "chatterer" and was in the 16th century added to "pie", which refers to the black and white pied coloring. outside the camera they continue their "conversation". this day the female is fed in the nest twice during the one hour filming. the female's breaks are becoming again longer, about 20 minutes. in the evening she returns after such a break,
but she doesn't settle in the nest. she seems in dubio and flies away. she returns after 28 minutes! but now, she stays in the nest. this sparrow is risking his live! but gets off with a shock. in the late afternoon the female leaves the nest and starts scratching herself, for minutes.
she's not so much straightening and cleaning her feathers but seems more to suffer from pests. her plumage is looking somewhat battered. the extended breeding might not be beneficial for the nest milieu. after 16 minutes of breeding she starts all over again. the next day she's again making her toilet for a long time. in the absence of the female, the male checks the eggs. after a break of four minutes, the female returns. half an hour later both birds are again together on the nest.
the jasmine is in full bloom, but for our magpie couple the end of their via dolorosa seems still not in sight. the female leaves the nest regularly for 20 to 30 minutes. with her battered plumage on her back, the female returns into the nest. ten minutes later she leaves. then after 6 min a magpie, more or less sneaks into the nest. but is it the female? it's difficult to see.
after seven minutes the bird leaves the nest. the back feathers are impeccable, so it would appear that - contrary to textbook knowledge - male magpies do breed in the nest, although perhaps only under extraordinary circumstances. more than 15 minutes later the female arrives, indeed, with her far from impeccable backfeathers. later this day i again filmed for one hour.
for 47 minutes the nest was empty, then again the male magpie entered the nest. during my filming i never saw a "take-over": one bird entering the nest while the other is leaving, indicating that male magpie breeding is an exceptional phenomenon. also the next day in the afternoon apparently male breeding did occur. both birds arrive and it seems the male (on the left) who is checking the nest.
about a minute after the female he withdraws. but he steps back, enters the nest and starts breeding. after three minutes it is likely that it is the male who leaves the nest. four minutes thereafter presumably the female arrives at the nest. the back feathers seem more in disarray than of the male we saw a moment ago (shown on the left). the female stays in the nest for at least 30 minutes.
the female's times off the nest increase considerably. here, she returns after an absence of about 40 minutes. on this sunny day, after 22 minutes in the nest, she moves out and starts scratching herself at great length. july starts with a heatwave, temperatures above 30 degr c. the female stands on the edge of the nest, often with her beak open. magpies and other black feathered members of the crow family
are inactive at peak heat hours. they eat early in the morning and in the evening. the past days the male was not in sight. here he is at the nest after it was left unattended by both birds for a full hour. after a while the female appears, but she doesn't enter the nest during my filming. to make matters worse, a heavy thunder-shower bursts. the couple is gone.
not really favorable for the jasmine's blossom. after the shower it takes 35 min before the birds show up. the male briefly checks the nest. the female stays in the background on the left, concealed by the jasmine's leaves. only two minutes later both birds return, the female on the left. the male quits several times, but within a minute he is back. the female stays after his definitive departure for several minutes.
could there be something changed? the following day both birds were again at the nest. but there was indeed something fundamentally different. the female did not breed anymore. the thunder-storm perhaps has functioned as a variable that halted the dynamic breeding system. the female alone pays a visit to the nest. the pair sits in close bodily contact and the male preens the female as if to comfort her.
a most touching moment. american black-billed magpies have been observed taking part in elaborate grieving rituals, which have been likened to human funerals. it is said that magpies are capable of feeling complex emotions, including grief. that evening the female alone at the the nest. it is unknown to me why the presumed eggs didn't hatch. unsuccessful hatches can be caused by infertile eggs
or embryo mortality. each of these conditions can be diagnosed by shining a light through the egg. but with the speckled magpie eggs you need a high-intensity candler. here it seems that the female is grooming the male. some hours later they are again together at the nest. the female alone at the nest. this day, no magpie in the picture
there's no need anymore to be afraid. and this is the last time that the couple appeared for the camera. after 96 days, more than three months of bird watching i'm worn out, just like the magpies, and as you might have noticed, also my camera reaches its end. but i miss their raucous calls. what struck me most during these months of birdwatching was the infinite array of behaviors magpies have at their disposal
to cope with the many tasks they stand for.