love the magpies!

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found.....one magpie.....

Apparently all great blogs need a list....

so this is a first for me.


the magpies are very noisy at the moment.....starting chortling at 4.45am!!


but even so, I love them to bits.


 So... 10 REASONS WHY I LOVE MAGPIES....


1.   they mate for life.


2.   the females in the group will help feed and look after all the babies in the group.... they make great aunties and baby-sitters for each others kids.


3.   the males also help feed the babies...though not as much ....obviously they're not so keen on total equality!


4.   they have the most amazing, gorgeous, warbley song.... and everybody just does his own thing....no rules.... just warble your heart out!


5.   the babies are so cutely ugly, really ugly!


6.   they can be taught to eat from your hand.


7.   they seem to sing for the sheer joy of it, and also seemingly to cheer themselves up when it is dark and miserably cold.


8.   they have the most classic and classy of all colour combos.....black and white.


9.    they also happen to be the mascot for my football team.....go the pies.... .better luck next year!


10.   they sure can sing!


11.   they eat bugs and are very industrious at finding them.


12.   the chicks have a cute 'feed-me...NOW'  dance....it goes like this....mouth open and squat....cheep loudly "I'm hungry".....food in......straighten the knees and stand.....butt up and poop....relax  and repeat!

  
13.   the mums are great housekeepers...they immediately scoop up the babies poop-sac.....(see no 12 ) and fly off with it out of the nest.


14.   they are so handsome.


15.   and big .


16.   and intelligent .


17.   and did I mention their song!


oops, that's 17.....sorry but I got carried away!!

(warning: the above list is from my limited experience and observations of my neighbourhood maggies, plus a little research)






now what brought this on you may ask......


well last spring I rescued a  baby magpie.


it had fallen out of its nest the previous wild and windy night, and I found it huddled beside its dead sibling..... so sad.... couldn't leave it for the dogs to maul .  

so we had him in the laundry for a couple of nights, but after trying to maintain hourly feeds....yes....hourly!.....aren't you glad you weren't born a bird....of the feathered variety.....with live worms and mince..... ditto.....and ridding the poop....(see no. 12....but hey, been there, done that )  I decided he needed to be restored to mum somehow.


 and fast.. before he hopped out into the house!


so we built a nest from a garden hanging basket, wired it to the tree he'd fallen from (teenage mum had built too small a nest) and showed mum he was alive and squarking!


mum would happily follow us around, hoping for some mince, then fly off and feed junior!


he grew huge..... he looked like a grumpy sumo baby!  I did wonder..... what on earth was I thinking.... a wild bird in the house with the dog !

anyway, for two weeks we fed  him and his entourage..... and then a few weeks after that, just when it began to look very comical to see this baby the size of a small duck peering out of the nest.... he was gone.




bub in plastic laundry tub






I think our sumo-baby is now one of the gorgeous young male magpies that start singing even before the first hint of daylight.....c'mon guys, it's still pitch black!



he always was a tad precocious!



honestly, I am happy we saved him.....truly.....



what's the saying.....
with a face only a mother......



but if he doesn't get his body clock in sync with the sunrise and the rest of the birds out there I might just have to knock his little block off !!     :)









mum can hear him..... she wonders what we're up to......






if he's not in here, then he must be up there....

                                                    



we're up here... just watching you.....what's that in your fingers.....





yum.....that looks good.....









and down the hatch......



Jo   x              :)   

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