We don't have magpies where I live and have only seen them when I'm traveling so I'm always so excited to see them. I think they're beautiful! Wasn't aware of their meat-eating habits but as an ornithologist once told me after watching a newly banded songbird get swooped up by a hawk, "hey, everything's got to eat!"
I learned the magpie lines as Three for a letter, four for a boy. I suspect it got cleaned up under second wave feminism. But a letter if excluding was more intriguing.
I wonder how the shelduck decide who stays, do they take it in turns, is it the last ones left, do they draw lots (feathers), is it a permanent role, do they inherit it? So many questions!
Thanks, Lev. My friend is one of the magpie superstition brigade, she gabbles something whenever we see one, so fast I’ve no idea what she says! No spitting though, that I’ve seen.
I was in Dublin recently and so pleased that a magpie was flying near the house all day, often perching on the chimney. We don't have them in Canada.
What we do have at this time of year are young American Robins and Cardinals perching on branches, peeping, insisting that they are starving and must be fed immediately. And worried red-winged blackbirds who swoop at your head if they think you are too close to their nest.
One fine day Diana decided we should take a bread and cheese picnic to the park. Sitting on the grass, a magpie approached. “Good morning Mr Magpie how’s your lady wife” and she spat three times. Then another magpie came past and the ritual was repeated, and then another and this went on and she ran out of spit. We never got to eat anything. I was intrigued because we have no ritual for these birds in Australia, and our magpies are benign and do not raid nests and eat baby birds. They just sing like angels at dawn.
Did you know that magpies can't fly upside-down? You probably kind of assumed it, without any specific information to the contrary. Ah, but does the *magpie* know this? Well, maybe it's worth a shot, if there's some food available...
So I'm watching this magpie on the roof of the bungalow opposite. There's clearly some tasty titbit under the rather long overhang of the eaves. How to get it? Hmm... stand in the gutter and lean over? Nope, too far away, I keep falling off the roof. How about leaping up from ground level? I'm not a great leaper, but with wing-assistance, maybe? It's only a bungalow, so it should be... nope, that doesn't work either. Okay then, swoop in from the side and flip over at the last minute, picking it off as I fly past in a majestic barrel roll? Ow, ow, ow. *Very* bad idea.
John Finnemore is a genius.
And so many shelducklings 🥰
We don't have magpies where I live and have only seen them when I'm traveling so I'm always so excited to see them. I think they're beautiful! Wasn't aware of their meat-eating habits but as an ornithologist once told me after watching a newly banded songbird get swooped up by a hawk, "hey, everything's got to eat!"
I learned the magpie lines as Three for a letter, four for a boy. I suspect it got cleaned up under second wave feminism. But a letter if excluding was more intriguing.
Ah, I had 3 sneezes for a letter:
Once a wish
Twice a kiss
Three times a letter
Four times something better.
thankyou for your writing xxx
I wonder how the shelduck decide who stays, do they take it in turns, is it the last ones left, do they draw lots (feathers), is it a permanent role, do they inherit it? So many questions!
Thanks, Lev. My friend is one of the magpie superstition brigade, she gabbles something whenever we see one, so fast I’ve no idea what she says! No spitting though, that I’ve seen.
I was in Dublin recently and so pleased that a magpie was flying near the house all day, often perching on the chimney. We don't have them in Canada.
What we do have at this time of year are young American Robins and Cardinals perching on branches, peeping, insisting that they are starving and must be fed immediately. And worried red-winged blackbirds who swoop at your head if they think you are too close to their nest.
There is also this amazing version of the magpie song by the Unthanks, which featured in the final series of Detectorists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6EIFD80f90&ab_channel=BBC
Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you for sharing. I think I need to rewatch Detectorists again.
One fine day Diana decided we should take a bread and cheese picnic to the park. Sitting on the grass, a magpie approached. “Good morning Mr Magpie how’s your lady wife” and she spat three times. Then another magpie came past and the ritual was repeated, and then another and this went on and she ran out of spit. We never got to eat anything. I was intrigued because we have no ritual for these birds in Australia, and our magpies are benign and do not raid nests and eat baby birds. They just sing like angels at dawn.
Did you know that magpies can't fly upside-down? You probably kind of assumed it, without any specific information to the contrary. Ah, but does the *magpie* know this? Well, maybe it's worth a shot, if there's some food available...
So I'm watching this magpie on the roof of the bungalow opposite. There's clearly some tasty titbit under the rather long overhang of the eaves. How to get it? Hmm... stand in the gutter and lean over? Nope, too far away, I keep falling off the roof. How about leaping up from ground level? I'm not a great leaper, but with wing-assistance, maybe? It's only a bungalow, so it should be... nope, that doesn't work either. Okay then, swoop in from the side and flip over at the last minute, picking it off as I fly past in a majestic barrel roll? Ow, ow, ow. *Very* bad idea.
I love the irridescence in a magpie's wings and tail, beautiful.
That's an amazing number of ducklings in that Shelduck creche!