Magpie Rescue

 

The other afternoon I arrived home after work, changed into civvies and settled down on the veranda, cold beer in hand, to enjoy that period when the sun starts to set & the water turns to glass. Everything is still except the chatter of the birds.

So here I am sitting there chatting to Button (she now visits me daily at this time), and I could hear my Pee Wees making a commotion and repeatedly flying behind the mangroves next door.

Now what caught their attention now had mine.

A bird was flapping in the water. I thought a Pee Wee that had tried to move into the territory had been driven into the water by my resident pair (Pernicious & Pedro).

However it happened, I had no choice. Unfortunately for me was where the bird was.

The mud here, you sink with each step. Now your shoeless foot sinks thru 18” of mud. Just to add to the experience & thanks to the local kids throwing ½ bricks and rocks at the ducks, it was like walking thru a mine field. With every step, as I sink thru the quagmire, I might hit one of these oyster covered gems.

So, GoPro mounted on head off I trudge. When I got closer I saw that it wasn’t a Pee Wee, but a Magpie that was caught up in fishing line, hanging upside down in the water.

Getting there without losing a toe, I was presented with a pissed off Magpie. Great, now the prospect of losing a finger.

OK, so he’s wrapped himself up in line that’s been strung between 2 mangroves.

 

The plan – cut line on far side of bird, drag bird to shore to untangle, pray don’t lose toe or finger in process.

Fault in the plan – well at this point there were 2 & they happened at the same time.

1^st/ Dragging 1 very pissed off & noisy bird 3’ or 4’ behind me and forgetting to cut the other end of the line.

2^nd/ when that pulled tight, I was in the middle of the mine field mid-stride. Here I was faced with 2 choices, lose a toe or possibly lose a wing. Self-preservation is a powerful instinct. Lucky for the bird neither of us lost an appendage. Neither reality were going to end well for the bird J

So back to terra firma, I could now take time and look at that I was faced with.

Seemed he had the line wrapped around this wing a number of times. My main concern was if he had broken his wing. What happened next amazed me. I laid him on his back & he just laid there. Letting me inspect him.

Now I believe that is a defence mechanism to play dead when predated on, but that’s not the case here. He was watching my every move.

So, successfully released from his bond, he still needed the wing looked at.

This is when things went a little pear shaped. He took umbrage at being man handled and proceed to tell me that, in no uncertain terms (I’m sure he didn’t miss any of my fingers, BTW, they bite way harder than a kookaburra).

Released, he flies a few meters, I check I still have all my fingers, and then he flies off.

I saw him 2 days later & he was OK. Yeah, thanks for asking, the swelling in my fingers was also slowly going down at this stage.

For the full rescue, check out the video

http://youtu.be/1iJ-xXnKStE

 

Blue Bar part 3

Into the Valley of Death go I

I’ve repositioned the Blue Bar to leaning over the Tapas bar.

Again the birds loved it. Many preferring to hang to eat, over standing.

Now this has its advantages, like on this day.

You’ve got to give it to Lorries. For such a small bird, they have huge attitude.
Well, today Cedrick & Daphne arrived. And boy did they have the shits.

It seems that they, and only they, have the right to be at the Tapas bar, and proceeded to give grief to all the other customers.

After a while of this, Bully decided to take things into her own hands.

Landing, she lit straight into Daphne, giving her an earful.

Cedrick, seeing this flies in to the rescue.

I’ll let the photos finish this story;

Daphne, you might have the others bluffed......

......But my name is Bully.
Did you think they named me that by accident

And here come Cedrick to the recue

Bully, you'll have to let go of my toe sometime
And when you do, fair dinkum, I'm going to throttle you.
Bully says "I'd like to see that"

Mistake - big mistake, Bully

After giving Bully a satisfying throttling, he does a quick fly past and lands next to Daphne for a hero's welcome. Bully is both outraged & humiliated.
She needs to save face, so challenges Cedrick.

Again I'll let the photos finish this tale.

"Your my hero Cedrick" says Daphne
"Hah, he just got lucky"



"So, you still want to dance do you Bully? I won't be so gentle this time"

"You haven't seen the last of me Cedrick"

I do believe the last thing we heard from Bully
as she flew off in a huff, was FU

Well, twice victorious, Cedrick does a few laps of the yard, and returns for his just rewards (after all, there has to be some reward for his act of chivalry).

I'll let Daphne's reaction to her hero's return, finish this post.

Daphne jumping for joy at her hero's return.

I've just got to nuzzle you

And hug you

And groom you

And.......................
Sorry folks, we had to turn the camera off at this stage.

Blue Bar part 2

Adding the Blue Bar to enhance my birds dining experience, was a complete success.

OK, there was the occasional stoush (birds do that), but generally they were more interested in playing with the bar, than previous feuds. Sort of a bit like Switzerland.

Again, I’ll let the photos tell the story.

There are times I could just throttle Mal

 

Angelina & Cedrick go eye to eye

Mick & Mal turned up to join Cedrick & Angelina

Sometimes it pays to have eyes in the back of your head

Pedro the Pee Wee called in & was well behaved.

A good old Mexican standoff



Mal photo bombing



Mal pushing his luck



Cedrick, Daphne & Pernicious tucked down the back

This could get serious Daphne, Stand behind me



"If we stand our ground on a united front, I'm sure he'll back off."
"I'm with you Cedrick"

“Here he comes, hold your ground. You still there Daphne”
“I’m right behind you Cedrick”...

“He’s not going to stop Daphne”
“Cedrick, don’t show any sign of fear. I’ve got your back”



“Daphne, he pulled up short. I told you it would work”
“You did darling. I guess we showed him”

Well that's it for this post. Stay tuned for their next adventure

 

 

 

 

Blue Bar part 1



I told Button a "Little Johhny" joke. She fell off the railing!

I had often seen birds hang off my back fence at weird angels, so I had the idea of leaning a blue bar against the fence and placing the food below it.

I wasn’t sure the effect it would have, but I guessed there may have been 3 outcomes.

1/ They’re curious and come for a look.
2/ They completely ignore it.
3/ They were fearful of at as it’s alien to their environment.

What I didn’t expect was the reaction I got.

It seems every bird in the neighbourhood wanted to play on it.

So much so, there were squabbles over who could sit where.
I got so many good photos, I’ll let them tell the story.

I will split this post into 2 or 3 parts, to keep download times short.

Of course the first to turn up were the Noisy Miners (Mick & Mal), Closely  followed by Red the Wattlebird.

 

 

It was about now the first stoush started.



Mal decided he wanted the spot Red was perched on.

 

Fluffed up he marched towards Red who started backtracking.



Then it was like a light switched on in Reds brain,

and he realizes he’s twice as big as Mal.



With that, the table turns,
and Mal is quickly seen off the bar.

Well it turns out Mal’s not a very quick learner, but Red is.

Mal tries his luck a second time.  Using the same unsuccessful front on attack.

This time Red decides to give Mal a good old arse kicking.

Once that pecking order had been settled, it was time for Brad & Angelina (Satin Bowerbirds) to have a look. They are one handsome pair.



Hey Angelina, get over here & check this out

Ok Brad, I'll be there in a sec.



Boy, this really is neat.

How good is this.
I can practice my Palates while chowing down on fresh fruit.

Well, that's it for now folks.
Keep an eye out for the next instalment
Blue Pole part 2