Australian magpies are medium-sized black and white birds from the same botanical family as crows and blue jays. They are quite clever. They live in groups of up to 12 birds and work together.
Scientists wanted to learn more about how far the birds fly and what they do during a normal day. They are concerned that magpies may have a hard time adjusting, as the world warms up because of climate change.
To keep the trackers on the birds without causing flying problems, the researchers developed a special harness. It was tough, so it wouldn’t come off by accident. But the harness could be released by using a magnet. This was meant to allow the scientists to free the birds from the harnesses at a special magnetic bird feeder, without having to catch the birds again.
There was just one problem – the birds didn’t like the trackers.
The researchers placed trackers on five magpies using these special harnesses. But just ten minutes after setting up the last magpie, they noticed something unusual:

an adult female magpie was helping another magpie get free from its harness. In a few hours, most of the other magpies had also been freed from their harnesses. By the third day, none of the birds had trackers anymore. “The birds outsmarted us,” said one of the scientists.
The magpies had taught the scientists something else: magpies are able and willing to help each other out, even if the bird who is helping doesn’t get a reward.
This is called ‘rescue behaviour’. The scientists think the birds might have thought that the trackers were parasites (like ticks on a dog, for example).

Bhavan's Journal,May 15, 2022∎ 81