In Defence of Crows

[spacesailor]

It wasn't a piece of skin ! , ( thanks A bloodi. I. ).

It was a " skink " .

I did ' proof-read ' it  & it looked good. Untill posted .

spacesailor

[onetrack]

I went up to my block in the Central Midlands of the Wheatbelt today to do a bit more repair work. It was nice and quiet, any businesses in town are closed, and a lot of townspeople are holidaying on the coast.

The big school oval is directly opposite my commercial block, and it's always full of pink and grey galahs, hundreds of constantly bloody screeching corellas, a few Carnabys black cockatoos, and an assortment of other birds such as a few ravens, magpies, and honeyeaters. The galahs and cockatoos rule the place, just by sheer numbers and constant noise.

 

Anyway, I'm working away, and next thing, I can hear this distant "ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta - the sound of an air impact gun or jack hammer. It stops, then starts again a little while later. Then stops, then starts again. I'm looking around, thinking someone is changing a full set of wheels on a road train?

But there's no-one working in town, no businesses doing anything - but there is a few grain trucks moving around. I'm thinking, "well, maybe it's a truckie down by the wheat bin, changing a couple of flats?"

But the noise keeps up, on an "on and off" basis. "Ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta ... stop. Silence for 5 mins, then "ratta, tatta, tatta ......" again.

 

I'm looking around, totally puzzled by now. The rail line through town runs past, just down from my block, about 400 metres away. They've been tamping the ballast on regular occasions over the grain hauling period. The rail tamper wagon goes, "Ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, as the automated jackhammers pound the ballast.

I think, "Well the rail tamper must be working the line downtown". But I watch for it to go by, but nary a sign of it.

The "ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta starts up again. I look carefully over the road where the Whitegums are full of corellas and pink and greys (they seem to hang out together a lot, in the same flock) - and next thing, I realise - its the BLOODY PARROTS making the "ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta" sound!!!

Not sure if it's the pink and greys or the corellas, but I suspect it's those bloody annoying corellas!!

 

They've obviously been listening to the tamper, and to people using air ratchet guns to change truck wheels - and they've decided to copy the sound!! I know a lot of birds are copy artists and mimics, and the parrots will repeat a lot of sounds and voices - but this is the first time I've ever heard them pick up and repeat the sound of a rattle gun or rail tamper.

 

I used to get caught out by the squeakers (grey currawongs) when I lived in the Southern wheatbelt - they're excellent mimics, and they would mimic the sound of our phone, which had a call speaker in the shed. You'd drop everything and run to pick up the phone - then suddenly realise you'd been had, by a currawong mimicking the phone.

[Marty_d]

An old friend's parents had a cockatoo which would mimic the wife perfectly.

 

This is in the days before mobiles - so when the father was working in the yard and hears the call "Max!  It's the phone!  MAX!!! COME AND ANSWER THE PHONE!" he'd run up to the house - only to find no one there but the bird.

 

I wondered how that bird lived that long.

[willedoo]

I remember an earthmoving contractor who had an outdoor speaker so people could hear the phone ring if they were working in the yard. Every time it rang, their pet cockatoo would mimic it very loudly.

 

Years ago in Bangkok I had lunch at a Thai family's place. They had a pet parrot who started rattling away in Thai when the postie bike pulled up outside. I asked them what he was saying and they translated it as "Here comes the postman". Until that day it had never dawned on me that talking parrots all over the world speak their native country's language. I'd only ever heard talking birds here in Australia and had never given a thought to overseas birds. I wonder what a parrot in Scotland would sound like.

[red750]

There was a video on Facebook this morning of an elderly gent, I think in WA, sitting on his verandah, with five or six magpies crowding round, one on his shoulder, three on his knees, and a couple on the ground, warbling to him as he hand-fed them. I forgot to copy the link, and as usual, when you go back, it's gone.

[pmccarthy]

Years ago in Perth there were birds that mimicked the pedestrian crossing sounds at the lights. I wondered if any blind people stepped out as a result.

[Jerry_Atrick]

9 hours ago, willedoo said:

I wonder what a parrot in Scotland would sound like.

"I'll 'av yoooo jimmy!"

[willedoo]

11 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

"I'll 'av yoooo jimmy!"

If it was a talking Scottish owl, it would be "Aye hoots".

[old man emu]

If it was Irish, it'd never shut up.

[onetrack]

Wouldn't the Irish parrots just do a jig?

 

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/whats-on/belfast-parrot-orders-himself-takeaway-25358711

[Jerry_Atrick]

Sort of back to topic - I am not sure if this one has been posted before, but it would appear as if magpies have a therapeutic quality to them that doesn't involve gouging one's eyes out:

 

[facthunter]

It all changes at the breeding season. Some just go absolutely NUTS.   Nev

[nomadpete]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

It all changes at the breeding season. Some just go absolutely NUTS.   Nev

Are you still talking about CROWS?

[facthunter]

No ,about Magpies, Apropos of the Pic above.   Had lots of experiences of them here over the years.. Back to  crows if you wish. Maggies are nicer. Nev 

Edited January 8 by facthunter

[nomadpete]

Nev, I was thinking  your statement also applies to most humans,

[spacesailor]

No 

The human female goes ' nuts  ' after birth ,

" post partum depression " .

Is a bad one .

spacesailor

 

[facthunter]

I reckon they have good reason to..  The blokes  job is relatively easy.  Nev

[willedoo]

On 08/01/2024 at 5:37 AM, Jerry_Atrick said:

Sort of back to topic - I am not sure if this one has been posted before, but it would appear as if magpies have a therapeutic quality to them that doesn't involve gouging one's eyes out:

They're clever birds. I don't get magpies coming real close to the house or yard, probably due to the resident raven. Once I had a magpie show up on the verandah rail with an injured leg he couldn't put weight on. He could fly and land but not walk, so he couldn't hunt for food. The magpies had never been in on the lurk of scoring food from the human, but this character had obviously seen me feeding the raven, butcher birds and one kookaburra, so he figured he could survive by showing up at my place for a feed.

 

He arrived every day and stood on the verandah rail on one leg and gobbled up the food I put out for him. He did this for about a week until his leg was better then flew off and never came back for a feed again.

[onetrack]

The magpies in W.A. are a lot more wary of humans, and don't frolic like the East Coast magpies do. I've never seen them hanging upside down on lines, or hanging off clothing like the East Coast magpies do.

It's very rare to get a magpie to approach you here, except if you make it obvious you have food for them. Even then, they won't approach any closer than a couple of metres, and are ready to take flight in an instant.

You can throw them a morsel, and they'll race in and grab it and then run away again to a safe distance.

 

But on the Gold Coast I was quite surprised to see magpies absolutely fearless of humans on a regular basis, and constantly coming up to you looking for food. Maybe this is because their food is in short supply there, or more people feed them there. We're not encouraged to feed any wild birds here, and I think that's the right approach.

 

My old Italian neighbour Barney leaves out tidbits for the magpies, but doesn't hang around to feed them. But I see them land on his clothesline regularly checking for food he might have left out.

If there's nothing there, the magpie will warble, as if saying, "I'm here, where's my tucker?". But if Barney doesn't come out, they only hang around for about 5 mins, then fly off to look for food.

I've noticed the same female magpie is a regular visitor, but sometimes there are others as well.

 

I've also noticed the birds "work" an area for food for a period, then disappear, sometimes for 3 or 4 weeks, before they come back to "work" the area over again. 

[facthunter]

You will KILL a Magpie if you feed it Cake, Biscuits and such. I've seen it happen twice. I told both people not to do it. Nev

[willedoo]

18 minutes ago, onetrack said:

The magpies in W.A. are a lot more wary of humans, and don't frolic like the East Coast magpies do.

onetrack, I hope you're not insinuating our east coast magpies are a bunch of tarts.

[willedoo]

On the subject of feeding wild birds, there's a lot of variables which is one of the reasons authorities discourage it. The main problem is a lot of people don't know how to do it properly and feed the birds junk that is harmful to them. As an example, fatty mince is one of the worst things you can feed birds, but it's also one of the most common things people give to birds.

 

There's plenty of bird experts around who can give the right advice. The best and safest thing to feed to birds is those small round dog pellets soaked overnight in water. There's nothing notably harmful in them, they have good fibre content and they are fortified with vitamins and nutrients, unlike some other types of food lacking in nutrition that can cause health problems for birds.

 

The idea that feeding birds destroys their natural ability to hunt and forage is debatable and considered urban myth by some experts. It's very hard to overfeed birds as they are still a wild animal susceptible to predators and will eat accordingly. If they were to get too full, they would be slow and vulnerable so instinct helps to keep them lean and light. If you give them too much tucker, they will either ignore it or stash it for later, but will keep doing their natural thing. 

[old man emu]

Residential development has been a boon for magpies. That little patch of green we like to have around the house and tend lovingly provides a good environment for the insects that magpies feed on. More feed = more magpies. They are territorial, but the size of their territory is somewhat dependent on the abundance of food. The biggest problem with the residential development we see is that the first thing that happens is the trees are ripped out. No trees - no roosts. 

 

As for feeding magpies, what we give them should be "sometime food", so that they don't become dependent or expectant on our supplying them. At the same time, however, ensuring a supply of fresh water can never do any harm. A birdbath is a worthwhile addition to a backyard landscape, mainly for the pleasure it gives us watching the birds carrying out their ablutions.

[red750]

Throwing bread to ducks and swans is a no-no.

[old man emu]

2 minutes ago, red750 said:

Throwing bread to ducks and swans is a no-no.

Yeah. That's no bun at all.