# What was this magpie doing?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 7, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184 "2018-03-07T15:44:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/1 "2018-03-07T15:44:29Z")
Can anyone explain this strange behaviour by a magpie?
I was in London the past two days and was walking in Hyde Park. I sat down beside an ornamental pool / fountain (if it was a fountain the fountain was switched off). The pool was half-frozen over. Anyway, there was this magpie. It looked a little young. Perhaps a second brood from last year? And it kept flying from its perch to the pool and washing itself. It did this many times, with a good pause in between. There were no other magpies visible - plenty of pigeons, though - so it seems unlikely to be a mating display behaviour or a territorial thing.
What was it doing?
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### Author:  [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/2 "2018-03-07T16:57:16Z")
Probably washing itself.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/3 "2018-03-07T18:39:09Z")
Repeatedly?
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/4 "2018-03-07T18:45:05Z")
Even birds can get OCD.
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### Author:  [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/5 "2018-03-07T18:54:05Z")
Trying to shift a parasite?
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/6 "2018-03-07T19:50:53Z")
> [@Quartz](#):
>
> It did this many times, with a good pause in between.
Sorry, looks like I accidentally edited that sentence. It should say ‘… in between each wash’.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/7 "2018-03-07T20:00:45Z")
Maybe he was admiring himself reflected in the water. Birds like to look in mirrors.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/8 "2018-03-07T20:22:29Z")
Caged birds will sometimes bathe repeatedly when they haven’t had access to water for bathing in a while. Was water frozen for a few weeks and this his first chance at open water?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/9 "2018-03-07T20:41:49Z")
> [@puddleglum](#):
>
> Probably washing itself.
> [@Quartz](#):
>
> Repeatedly?
So it would seem.
It probably didn’t feel it was clean enough after the first time. Maybe by jumping in repeatedly it had a better chance to get the feather lice or other parasites as they scurried around.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/10 "2018-03-07T21:42:43Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> So it would seem.
>
> It probably didn’t feel it was clean enough after the first time. Maybe by jumping in repeatedly it had a better chance to get the feather lice or other parasites as they scurried around.
It was at least half a dozen times over 20 minutes or more.
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/11 "2018-03-07T22:01:23Z")
They do like a splash: [A magpie having a bath in a large puddle - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bViILclQQg)
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/12 "2018-03-07T22:21:08Z")
> [@Quartz](#):
>
> It was at least half a dozen times over 20 minutes or more.
Doesn’t seem abnormal to me. I’ve seen birds do that kind of thing.
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### Author:  [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-magpie-doing/810184/13 "2018-03-09T11:43:25Z")
It might’ve been a learned behaviour, after it washed a few times it was offered food by people nearby. Some people would term this a ‘suspicion’ as there’s no definite link between the two.