Submitted by Ron on 7 November, 2008 - 10:41
Both our magpie families have babies now. Billy, our neighbour's magpie, who can't resist stopping by for a feed whenever he sees me, and his mate Polly have two new bubs out of the nest but still staying in the trees and waiting for food to be brought to them. Meanwhile, their bubs from last year, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, are acting more baby-like to keep on getting attention, even though many one-year-old magpies have already left home by this stage.
Submitted by Ron on 15 March, 2008 - 11:43
Over the past few months, our birds' feathers have all generally improved - Vicky's, for example, have grown nicely where she had a bald spot for about six months. But our new adult magpie, Wendy, has surprised us. Slowly but surely, her off-white neck feathers have got whiter - whiter and whiter. Are we going to have to change Wendy's name to William?
Submitted by Ron on 19 February, 2008 - 20:25
Over the past few weeks our various baby birds have been gaining confidence and getting to know us better. At first when they come, they follow their parents around for food, then they try a bit for themselves, picking it up off the grass experimentally. (They have surprising difficulty when very young picking up their own food, even though they have already become accomplished fliers.)
