human-bird friendships

Pete's Playful Butcherbirds

spoilt babies Pied-butcherbirds chicks are usually born in early December. Peter Gregory rescued a pair of chicks and had to work hard to rescue them, but found it was well worth the rewards of his Christmas gift. Here's his story.

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Bertie Magpie does the incredible

14 September, 2009 - 16:08 — Ron

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. read more »

Vicky recovered

10 September, 2009 - 14:17 — Ron

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 flase 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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Minnie Miner saves me from a snake.

24 August, 2009 - 12:03 — Ron

As our beautiful queen magpie Vicky is not feeling well right now, I decided to go and visit her. I walked along the road and spotted her in a tree in our side paddock. I called out hello, and took one step off the road towards the fence. Suddenly, I was confronted by one of our noisy miner friends, screaming loudly at me and looking down:

Minnie miner on fence warning me of a snake that I can't see read more »

Vicky being courted?

15 June, 2009 - 20:02 — Ron

We've been worried about Maggie's widow Vicky, and whether she is going to find a new mate, so Saturday morning when she came to say hello, I had a long chat with her. The way this works is, you just talk, expressing all the things on your mind. She can't understand human words, of course, but if you talk long enough, she will follow your body language and get the drift.

So I talked: "We can't understand what is happening Vicky? Are you looking for a new mate? You have to show us, because we humans are really very stupid." read more »

Good Night Larry!

9 May, 2009 - 13:42 — Ron

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 »