Magpies chasing squirrels (1 Viewer)

[CWOBrien]

Saw something quite unusual yesterday.

A grey squirrel was running along the ground, being chased by three magpies all the way. The magpies were looping from tree to tree before coming to ground. They were unrelenting, but stopped short of attacking the squirrel, which didn't have anything, like a nut for instance that they might want to steal.

Any idea why they were doing this? At least one of the magpies looked like a juvenile.

 

[House Crow]

Saw something quite unusual yesterday.

A grey squirrel was running along the ground, being chased by three magpies all the way. The magpies were looping from tree to tree before coming to ground. They were unrelenting, but stopped short of attacking the squirrel, which didn't have anything, like a nut for instance that they might want to steal.

Any idea why they were doing this? At least one of the magpies looked like a juvenile.

I believe that the magpie was trying to be as menacing as possible to the squirrel as the squirrel may otherwise attack the magpies young. The fact that a juvenile magpie was there may also indicate that the parent magpie was showing the juvenile that the squirrel is a possible threat. Magpies can kill small mammals but it is no match for a squirrel. Not even a crow is.