Avian expert explains magpie act confusing Australians

Do you know what these magpies are doing? An expert explains what is happening as stunned Aussies share their hilarious stories.

Australians have been left confused by the strange sight of magpies laying flat with their wings spread on the ground.

Most of us have probably seen a dog do a sploot (laying on its stomach with its legs stretched flat), but a magpie?

If you did not know better, you could think the birds were injured or unwell. The truth is quite sweet: they are just sunbathing. And not only because they like the Aussie sun.

“The heat from the sun heats their feathers and kills any feather mites and lice that may be present,” avian veterinarian Dr Adrian Gallagher told news.com.au.

A video was shared of three magpies engaging in the activity on social media, with the uploader wanting to know what they were witnessing.

Dr Gallagher added: “I would presume that there is extra heat from the wall as they appear to be closely associating with it.”

A video of magpies sunbathing has confused Australians. Picture: Reddit / u/Ten_tonne_tank

The person who uploaded the video to Reddit shared with commenters that the grass in the backyard was also artificial, which can get hot.

Fellow Australians shared their hilarious stories about how they found out about sunbathing magpies the hard way.

“Had one doing that in my backyard one day. Thought it was dead and went to pick it up to move it. Not sure who s*** themself more, it or me," wrote one person.

“Same. Thought my ex housemate had run one over on the yard … thankfully, no,” said another.

A third person added: “I saw one outside my house the other day, straight up thought it was dead, went up to see if I could help it and it stood up and looked at me like “YOU WANNA GO!?”

“We’ve had them out the front and I’ve thought the were injured and could just about touch them, then they’d spring and ‘WTF’ me,” said a fourth.

A train driver said he saw a magpie doing the same thing on the tracks recently and thought it had been hit.

“Its youngster was watching it and carrying on too. My heart was torn but then it just popped up and moved on. Now I see this post. Fascinating,” they said.