Report of a magpie preying on a post‐fledgling Daurian redstart

A magpie (Pica pica) preying on a fledgling of Daurian redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) was incidentally recorded with a video shot by mobile phone on 26 May 2021, providing direct evidence for magpie predation. It also shows that predation is an important factor that affects the survival of fledglings, indicating that survival of fledglings should be considered in evaluating breeding success of birds. The fledgling was about 13‐day‐old posthatching, and it was on its first day of leaving the nest when the incident occurred. It was preyed upon by a magpie 10 m away from the nest by two attempts under strong defensive behaviour from the female. This study reports the case of a magpie predating on a fledgling of Daurian redstart with the female parent giving a fierce attack. Our results provided direct evidence that predation is an important threat to the survival of fledglings during the fledging period. And aggressive defensive behaviour exists in the female of Daurian redstarts.