Magpie roosts

[FUDGEY]

Ive had a mate from down south texting me the last few nights saying that he has seen colonies of magpies roosting each night ina particular wood. Each night he says between 40 and 60 birds roos together. We dont have many Maggies in our area and i was wondering if this is common?

[tigertom]

I counted about 35 or so early one morning in a small wood next to a train station when waiting for train the other week, it was interesting to watch them leaving the roost some left when it was still very much on the dark side these seamed to be those from further afield, others left a bit later and some were still there when my train came in still roosting.
MIKE

[FUDGEY]

Thanks Mike, I thought it must have been pretty common, Ive just never heard of it before.

[dunlin]

Communal roosting is common among corvids as well as other species of birds. Starlings spring to mind and roost in numbers of many thousands as your probably aware.

I once stayed in the crewe arms hotel opposite the railway station and watched as hundreds of pied wagtails settled down for the night in the bushes right next to the public footpath. People walked past within feet of the roost completely unaware.

There has been a lot of research into why they do it and apart from the obvious like warmth and evading predators some studies into ravens has shown that information is passed on to other individuals about the availability of food sources

mark...

[Za]

Pied wagtails definitely have a thing about railway stations, saw hundreds heading to Guildford station to roost last year. And there was a cheeky little one at Clapham Junction that ran around the platform during rush hour looking for people eating pasties and sausage rolls, and stood directly beneath them waiting for crumbs to fall, great to watch it.
Za

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by FUDGEY

Ive had a mate from down south texting me the last few nights saying that he has seen colonies of magpies roosting each night ina particular wood. Each night he says between 40 and 60 birds roos together. We dont have many Maggies in our area and i was wondering if this is common?

Its not really that common in magpies, but is often recorded (if that makes sense). You tend to get birds which fall into three groups. Breeders which remain on territory through the winter due to good habitat quality and food supply. Breeders which have poor territories or a lack of food and decide to leave and join other breeders which have done the same and none breding birds which stay in lose flocks all year round and are usually made up of immature birds either 1st winters or 2nd winters (they often breed at 2 years old).

You then tend to get these large roosts in winter when a good food source is close by such as a tip or area with lots of food waste or even just a very rich habitat with lots of natural prey. The food source may be a moderate distance from the roost, if it is the only suitable area for roosting. Some of these roosts can contain over 100 birds, which tend to normally be just magpies although occassionally jackdaws and rooks may join in.