Magpies in the heat
Australian Magpie on a hot day
Yesterday we had the hottest day of this summer so far. It reached 45C under our front veranda – that’s 113F for those of you who use that temperature scale.
It was hot.
Very hot.
Apart from needing to go to the Post Office early in the morning I stayed indoors all day. The evaporative air conditioner chugged away nicely from late morning until well into the evening. One aspect of this form of cooling is that you need to keep a few windows partially open to keep the flow of air moving. We often open the sliding door shown in the photo above a few centimetres. It wasn’t long before the resident magpie family found the lovely cool air coming from the house.
Earlier they had been enjoying bathing in the bird bath, but this was even better evidently. At one stage I noticed six birds taking advantage of the cool air. It will be interesting if other species follow suit on the hot days still to come.
Australian Magpies on a hot day
Hi Trevor,
We even made it over 30 today, which is hot for us! I can appreciate how the magpies appreciated your kindness!
I love the way they’ve got their wings lifted slightly to let the cool air flow through. Sensible birds!
What a delightful photo! And what lucky magpies!
I left you a note in late November, telling you about Eastern rosellas who had just taken up residence in a nesting box with a webcam in its roof. Five eggs were laid, and all hatched. It’s delightful watching their development. Last Tuesday the temperature reached 36 and the birdlets were all panting. Next day it reached 42 and we were seriously worried. Advice was to spray the box, which was done and the birds were fine. They are a month old tomorrow and there are two more hot days predicted before we expect them to fly. Hopefully more watering will keep them alive. I wish they had access to that air from your air conditioner!
Hi again John – we have another week of hot weather forecast ahead of us. This morning the Pardalotes were busy drinking while I had breakfast – both Striated and Yellow Rumped Pardalotes. Looks like summer is finally here.
Snail – most birds are sensible I find. It’s some humans who spoil the whole thing…. but don’t get me started.
Thank you Ruth. It would be nice to have a few Eastern Rosellas in our garden and sheltering under the veranda. I’ll just have to be content with the mallee ringnecks (though when they eat our fruit I could cheerfully ring their necks!!! Only joking.)
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