Magpies behaving badly
Australian Magpie
It is now spring here in Australia. This usually means frenetic breeding activities in our bird life. Up until now I have noticed very little activity around here, which is unusual.
Reasons for this could be:
- A very cold and dry winter.
- Little food because of the drought conditions.
- I haven’t been looking carefully enough.
Whatever the reason, one very obvious sign of the breeding season is the activities of the Australian Magpie. I guess most Australians have experienced an attack from a male Magpie during breeding season. They can very aggressively defend their nest from all interlopers on their territory. And it can be painful; a peck on the scalp from an aggressive Magpie can draw copious amounts of blood, as my wife and sister-in-law can confirm.
An interesting article called “Magpies Behaving Badly” can be found on the ABC Science Online site here.
I am so pleased that our resident breeding pair of magpies do not swoop us. They let us move about the garden without any harassment. In fact, in 22 years of living here, I have only been swooped once, and that was my own fault. I tried to imitate the call of the male. I must have used a few magpie swear words!
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Bath time
While working in my wife’s plant nursery yesterday we were delighted to see several New Holland Honeyeaters up close. We had just had the watering system on and so the plants were all quite damp. The honeyeaters came in for a feed only to find all the leaves dripping with water. They both then proceeded to have a bath, scrabbling and cavorting amongst the wet foliage with droplets of water spraying in all directions.
It was a delightful little encounter.
The photo below was taken quite some time ago. I didn’t have the camera with me yesterday.
New Holland Honeyeater
A delightful visitor to the garden
Mistletoebird
While gardening yesterday I was attracted to some familiar calls. Two Mistletoebirds were calling from the mallee scrub near the garden. I was able to steadily walk up to the male until I was merely four metres away. He was sitting in the sunshine with his brilliant red feathers shining like a beacon from the dead branch where he perched. By the time I went inside and collected my camera, he had moved on. Never mind, as I had already taken the above photo late last year.
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A Walk of the Estate
From time to time I do a “Walk of the Estate.”
Translated, this means I wander around our five acre block of land on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia. This is about an hour’s drive SE of our state capital, Adelaide.
Our “estate” consists of mallee scrub, orchard, garden and an open paddock. Over the years I have recorded 113 different bird species, with over 30 of those breeding here. I have kept a monthly list of species seen or heard over the 22 years we have lived here.
The European Goldfinch is an introduced species in Australia and is common in many parts of Australia. It does not appear to have bred up in large numbers here in Murray Bridge, though I have seen a few from time to time, often near the Post Office. We have not seen them very often here on “the estate” until recently.
This morning I saw four of them out in “the paddock”. I’ve seen or heard them on three or four occasions in recent weeks. Perhaps they are seeking out new feeding grounds. Our winter has been abnormally dry so this may have forced them to seek food elsewhere.
Whatever the reason, I think they are a delightful species to have in our garden – despite being “foreigners.”
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They’re back
Pacific Black Duck
They’re back.
Every winter we have several visitors to “Le Swamp” (otherwise known as our swimming pool, but its current shade of green would discourage most human swimmers).
Two, sometimes three Pacific Black Ducks come and take up residence on the pool, enjoying our wonderful hospitality. From time to time they will wander out to the paddock for a feed, or perhaps waddle through the orchard looking for a snail or two.
Several years ago they had a brood of 6 ducklings which proceeded to occupy the pool too. Trouble was, they couldn’t get out and by the time we saw them – we’d been away – they were too exhausted to survive. We tried hand rearing several of them but without success.
While we like seeing them around, they do make a horrible mess on the paving around the pool.
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