It's been viewed as a troubling sign of the country's bush fire crisis.
A magpie has been filmed mimicking the sound of a fire truck in Australia, as the country's bush fire crisis continues.
The bird was filmed in Newcastle, New South Wales, and has been viewed as a troubling sign of the severity of the fires – which have raged since September.
Gregory Andrews filmed the magpie’s novel trick on Stephens Day, posted it to Facebook where it has since gone viral.
Copacabana Rural Fire Brigade said the magpie seems to have picked up the because “there have been so many emergency vehicles driving through bushfire-affected towns of New South Wales”.
Alexander Verbeek of the Institute for Planetary Security in Stockholm suggested the video illustrates the effects of man-made climate change.
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My first tweet in the third decade of the third millennium illustrates best the sad state of our planet.
An Australian magpie has been hearing so many fire trucks that he has started to copy the sirens.
Yes, our house is on fire! ? #Bushfires pic.twitter.com/LPlPori3s5
— Planetary Security? (@Planetary_Sec) January 2, 2020
“My first tweet in the third decade of the third millennium illustrates best the sad state of our plane,” he tweeted.
“An Australian magpie has been hearing so many fire trucks that he has started to copy the sirens. Yes, our house is on fire!”
On Thursday thousands of tourists fled Australia’s eastern coast as worsening conditions, fuelled by high temperatures and strong winds, are predicted over the weekend.
