Free Republic

An Australian man's unconventional attempt to scare magpies away from his backyard using a homemade scarecrow has resulted in an unexpected turn of events. Despite its eerie resemblance to a leftover Halloween decoration, the man believes that the birds were actually flocking to his garden to worship what they perceived as a magpie deity.

This poor child just wanted to scoot down a hill, to feel the breeze and the rumble of his wheels against pavement. Instead, he got chased down by a bird looking for a fight. The kid, apparently named Max, screamed and screamed as the bird dive-bombed him. Who knows what possessed that bird, but the child's screams really are fitting for 2020. According to ViralHog, where the video was published, the boy's father said this took place in Warilla, New South Wales, Australia. "My son and I went riding our scooter and pushbikes," the father said, according to the video...

LONDON (Reuters) - Magpies can recognize themselves in a mirror, highlighting the mental skills of some birds and confounding the notion that self-awareness is the exclusive preserve of humans and a few higher mammals. It had been thought only chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants shared the human ability to recognize their own bodies in a mirror. But German scientists reported on Tuesday that magpies -- a species with a brain structure very different from mammals -- could also identify themselves. "It shows that the line leading to humans is not as special as many thought," lead researcher Helmut Prior of the...