Submitted by Gitie on 29 April, 2010 - 21:35
Koels are shy and elusive birds. They tend to hide behind the thick foliage of fruit trees, hoping no one notices them while they eat their fill. The slightest hint that they are being watched causes them to fly off and find a more remote spot.
Submitted by Gitie on 5 April, 2010 - 15:10
by Shirley Oelman
I have magpies that visit every now and then and would like to talk about them.
They first came calling regularly in late July 2009.
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17Oct 09, 10:01am Warbling so beautiful
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At first I ignored them, then, as they seemed so insistent I went out outside to check out the noise.
There were 5 to start with and the numbers dwindled to 2 from November. I threw out onto the ground minced steak, multi grain bread and some varieties of fruit & veg, plus crushed up biscuits. There is always 2 lots of water for them. One of the magpies loved grapes. The other one would not touch them. If I ignored their call one would come up to my front door and call, then stand and wait looking at the door. When I stepped out it (the darker, taller one) ran away a short distance until I called it and dropped food and then it came within 4 foot of me and ate. The light grey one always kept back and never came too close.
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Submitted by Ron on 14 September, 2009 - 16:08
Vicky, Bertie, and Mindy are having trouble right now visiting our yard because the 'teenage' magpie crew think they own our front yard. I suspect this is only temporary because Bertie will eventually take charge and reclaim their territory. But for now, Vicky is nesting and, I suspect, is also is ambivalent about being stern with the teenage gang because her only son Monty is a member of it. So we have been walking along the road each day to say hello to Vicky's family and give them some bread and cheese. But yesterday when I went, something odd was going on.
I called the gang, but things were strangely quiet. Then I heard a horse's neigh - coming from above me. I looked up and there was Mindy, who promptly produced another neigh to make sure I didn't mistake who was imitating a horse. Why? Good question, but then Bertie explained it all to me in a way that was both unmistakeable and remarkable.
Submitted by Ron on 10 September, 2009 - 14:17
Our queen Vicky magpie has been free of flu symptoms for a week now, so we are cautiously optimistic that she has beaten the illness that took our pied butcherbirds Gerry and Teddles. But the visits to the nest seem to have been a false alarm; no one has been sitting on any eggs this week as far as we can tell. So we took a walk up the road yesterday and asked our magpies what's up this year.
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