WingedHearts.org More love than you thought possible

I went outside this morning to say hello to Gerry, our local pied butcherbird juvenile, only to find that on the mulberry tree were Gerry and four adults. Gerry's family only has two adults.

What's up? The other week the intruder group of pied butcherbirds had made a sortie or two over our place and got Freddy, Terry, and Gerry all stirred up, but this time there didn't seem to be any conflict going on at all. read more »

Last night I knew I would be busy just when it got dark, so I went our ten minutes earlier than normal and called out goodnight to all our birds. read more »

Georgie Magpie has not returned. The day we last saw her, we were getting some help from a friend doing home renovations, so we couldn't pay as much attention as usual, and our magpies would have been wary of the presence of other humans, so it may be they were trying to tell us where Georgie was going but we weren't listening. read more »

Both Larry and Harrie grey butcherbirds and Freddy and Terry pied butcherbirds have brought their new chicks to see us this week. Larry came first with the noisiest bub this season, easily out-squarking all the magpie bubs, which takes some doing, because the grey butcherbirds are so very much smaller than the magpies. read more »

OMGosh!   What's that exploding in the short lilypot?

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Larry the grey butcherbird has been having trouble from the new pied butcherbird group just up the road. When everyone else had been fed and had gone away, I sneaked out into the yard to look for Larry and the other grey butcherbirds. read more »

We've had a very interesting week watching (and participating) in the relationships amongst our butcherbirds. On the back side of the house we have our original pied butcherbird family, Butch and Cass and two of their adult children. Along the road is a new pied butcherbird group of five or six, two of whom are two older kids of Butch and Cass, namely Teddy and Tommy, who, I am quite convinced once saved Gitie's life by warning her of a nearby highly venomous snake, and chasing it out of our yard. read more »

Just to let you know about recent happenings with Maggie and Co, it's that time of year when the birds arrange their territories for the next twelve months. Not much action with our birds this year though (not yet, anyway). I got a clue that the Mags gang and Larry (grey butcherbird) gang have settled their quarrel. Last week, when I went up to the gate to call Larry, he and Maggie flew in side-by-side, then Maggie landed and Larry went to his nearby tree. But it was a definite signal to me that they are on amicable terms again. read more »

I was watching a show called Time Team yesterday - it's an archeology show, digging holes all over Britain in pursuit of the truth about the past. Not controversial until you cross a bird lover! read more »

Larry and Harrie our favourite Grey-butcherbirds have always been keen to show us their nests.  We got to meet them  through Vicky magpie when we would trek into the bush to see her.  The first year Larry and Harrie's' nest was on a tree that grew at the edge of the gully and we had a pretty good view (see logo above) as  we  walked across to  Vicky's tree. read more »