02 - IA behaviour, colouring

It is a cool, sunny morning, and the magpies started their song around 6am. One bird was leading and others joined in. This is called carolling and is often heard as a chorus at dawn. I have observed this magpie family carolling very loudly when they chased off other magpies that had intruded into their territory.

I will record their song soon. For now, as a placeholder, here is a link to a recording that I found on freesound: http://www.freesound.org/people/digifishmusic/sounds/42189/

IA and IB were foraging on the road for insects and their larvae, before flying up to sit on a power polet. The family often perch there, especially IA, IB and PA, the latter often accompanied by a noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala).

When I came out into the garden, IA flew down and sat in front of me, right leg drawn up (see photo below), even though the infection from the fishing wire has long healed and I observe IA skipping about and walking on both legs just like its sibling IB.

I wonder if IA has a memory of the injury from the fishing wire, i.e. if it correlates that time with the food it received, so that this one-legged stance could be a show of 'begging' behaviour to receive its reward. What kind of field experiment could be done to test such a theory?

On this photo you can clearly see the lighter greys and browns that are typical of immature birds. Their plumage turns to the stark black and white of adulthood when they are approximately 3 years old and getting ready to breed for the first time. The female of the race tibicen, common here in SE Queensland, can be distinguished from the male by looking at the top of the mantle at the nape of her neck: it is a mid grey shade rather than the white colour seen in males. The immature birds display the same mid grey colouring at the mantle and at 2-3 years old can be mistaken for females.