Magpies up close and personal
I was working at our picnic table on our back veranda yesterday. I was marking a brilliant essay written by one of my uni students; she obviously listened well to my lectures and absorbed all the important points. Either that – or I’m a good teacher. The house was cold after a frosty night and the table was bathed in beautiful winter sun. I decided to take advantage of the sun while it lasted.
Half way through my work one of our resident Australian Magpies – a brilliantly coloured male – flew in, perched on one of the chairs and then onto the table where he proceeded to strut around in front of me, not more than a half metre from where I sat. He was obviously looking for bread crumb scraps left over from our lunch.
He stayed for several minutes before a juvenile bird joined us, sitting on the BBQ a few metres away. A sudden squawk from other magpies in the orchard startled them both into action, and they flew off rapidly in that direction.
Pity I didn’t have my camera with me.
Never mind – a similar incident happened to us last year near Mildura when we were having a roadside picnic. On that close encounter, the birds did score a few crumbs from our biscuits – and nearly nabbed a whole one from the biscuit tin left open on the table. The photo below was taken on that occasion.
Australian Magpie (black backed)
Crested Pigeon and early morning grooming, Mildura
Crested Pigeon, Mildura
Just before we left the caravan park in Mildura earlier this year, I saw this Crested Pigeon sitting on a power line attending to its early morning grooming. It totally ignored me snapping away below it. After a frosty night it was probably enjoying the first rays of sunshine. So was I.
Finally it consented to pose properly for me (see photos below).
Crested Pigeon, Mildura
Crested Pigeon, Mildura
Early morning on the River Murray, Mildura
River Murray, Mildura
Sydney Trip June 2011
On the last morning of our holiday earlier this year we were up early despite the cold conditions. It was nice to have good air conditioning in our cabin. After packing the car I had a few minutes to wander down the caravan park driveway to have a quick look at what birds there were along the River Murray. I tried to find a path down to the river’s edge but there was limited access to the river opposite the caravan park. I had to be content with views from the cliff top (see photos above and below).
There wasn’t much to get excited about and I only made a modest list of birds seen:
Red Wattlebird
Crested Pigeon
Magpie Lark
Noisy Miner
Australian Raven
Red Rumped Parrot
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Common Starling
Australian Magpie
Galah
Welcome Swallow
Rock Dove
Silver Gull
Singing Honeyeater
Striated Pardalote
Rainbow Lorikeet
River Murray, Mildura
Caravan park we stayed in, Mildura
Magpies up close and personal
Australian Magpie (black backed)
Sydney Trip June 2011
Over recent days I’ve been writing about the birds seen on the return trip from a holiday with family in Sydney. Today I want to show a series of photos taken at the Malleefowl Rest Area south east of Mildura. we had stopped for an afternoon cuppa and a light snack of biscuits. we had just sat down at the picnic table and we were immediately accosted by a family of Australian Magpies (ssp black backed), including several juveniles from last season’s breeding.
The whole family gathered on and around the table waiting for handouts of whatever food we had in our picnic basket. I guess they are used to being fed generously by any humans who happen to drop in to their domain. If we hadn’t been smart about covering the biscuit tin they would have helped themselves.
I took the opportunity to get some very close up photos of the magpies as they sat nearby or on the table less than a metre from me. Some – like the one above – are decidedly nasty looking.
Tomorrow I’ll show several more photos.
You can buy one of my photos of a magpie on a coffee mug – click here.
Australian Magpie (black backed)
Australian Magpie (black backed)
Malleefowl Rest Area near Mildura
Sign at the Malleefowl Rest Area near Mildura
Sydney Trip June 2011
As we were travelling towards Mildura for the night on the second day of our journey home, we saw the sign for a rest area ahead. It was called the Malleefowl Rest Area. We just had to stop there for a break and a cuppa.
The large sign (see photo above – click to enlarge) had plenty of information about the Malleefowl for non-birding members of the public. I felt it was a great way to educate the general public on the wonders of this amazing bird.
The rest area is set just off the main highway and in the midst of typical mallee country – see the photos below for several views from the picnic table where we had our cuppa.
Sadly, we didn’t see a Malleefowl, here or along the road on the way to Mildura. It would have made a wonderful addition to my Trip List of birds.
Mallee vegetation near Mildura
Mallee vegetation near Mildura
Mallee vegetation near Mildura