Magpies are known and loved for their flute-like sounds, but not Rooster Girl — the rescued magpie prefers to crow like a rooster, hence the name.

She was brought in to the Mandurah Wildlife Rescue in Dawesville, an hour south of Perth, two years ago and at the time made a very different sound.

"We think she came from around the Greenfields area because she'd also do an ambulance sound that she occasionally still does," Mandurah Wildlife Rescue treasurer Sara Nolan said.

Eventually, Rooster Girl learnt to do her now-famous crow.

"There was another magpie in an adjacent cage that crowed like a rooster and that's why we think she's doing it now," Ms Nolan said.

Sara Nolan says Rooster Girl is one of the cheekiest and most loved magpies at the Mandurah Wildlife Rescue. ( ABC South West: Kate Stephens )

Rooster Girl was brought in at nine months old, but it was not clear exactly which trees she had come from.

While her ambulance mimic suggested she had lived near the local hospital, magpies are territorial and relocating them to the wrong tree can be deadly.

"If we don't know where to take them back to, we can't just release them because they'll get attacked by other magpies," Ms Nolan said.

"So where they are released and what time they are released is crucial to the success of the release."

After her rehabilitation, Rooster Girl was slowly introduced to a few other magpies that now share her territory.

"We opened up three cages and made it one cage and they all mixed in together and got used to each other, so then we released them as a group," Ms Nolan said.

Her release last month was classed as a success.

"She's fossicking for food and finding everything that she needs to eat," Ms Nolan said.

Rooster Girl was successfully released in her new territory last month after being brought to the Mandurah Wildlife Rescue two years ago. ( ABC South West: Kate Stephens )

Why magpies mimic

The magpie is one of the most beloved birds and was voted Australia's Bird of the Year in 2017 in a Birdlife Australia poll.

Birdlife Australia editor Sean Dooley said while Australians had a love-hate relationship with the swooping magpie, the bird's call was evocative of the Australian bush.

"They are really intelligent and playful creatures that interact well with people," he said.

While a crowing magpie is certainly unusual, Mr Dooley said due to the magpie's impressive vocal ability, they were also an accomplished mimic.

"They are kind of automatically tuned to repeating sounds that they hear, so often it's other magpies but they also throw in other bird calls," he said.

"So it doesn't surprise me really when you think about it that they would do a rooster call, even though it's pretty unusual."

Birdlife Australia's Sean Dooley says many people do not realise magpies are accomplished mimics. ( ABC South West: Kate Stephens )

Magpies known to mimic tractors

Even Rooster Girl's original ambulance mimic is not unheard of.

"For a long time the experts didn't believe the magpies did non-human calls either," Mr Dooley said.

"But we've seen anecdotes with social media and people being able to record things, that show magpies can impersonate man-made sounds like tractors and other sorts of machinery."

But why does Rooster Girl do it?

Ms Nolan believes partly for the attention and partly just because she can.

"I think she's quite pleased with herself when she does it, and then she does it when no one is looking as well," she said.

Weird mimics aside, Ms Nolan said Rooster Girl had become one of the most loved magpies at the Mandurah Wildlife Rescue.

"She's so cheeky and we just love her," she said.