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Chorus

A Happy Fence Friday to all of you. Let's hope the day and the weekend are calm and restful.

These birds are Australian Magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen), the sweetest singers in the known universe. At this time of year (Djilba and Kambarang), however, they do not always have the sweetest temper. If they feel their nests and young are threatened they "swoop" and can harass walkers and cyclists, especially those not wearing hats! Never happened to me, thank goodness.

The fences, not the most attractive I confess, surround one of the Mandurah primary schools.

UPDATE: Coincidentally, an article appeared in The Guardian today (15th September) which may interest some of you. Swooping Season
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16 comments

William Sutherland said:

Fabulous monochrome! HFF!

Admired in: www.ipernity.com/group/tolerance
4 months ago ( translate )

GrahamH said:

HFF. The swooping appears to be mainly aimed at people who are not in their nesting area all the year. Some years ago I used to regularly exercise walk round a sports field where there were magpies and they never bothered me. However people arriving to play or practice soccer would be swooped.
4 months ago

LotharW said:

Danke für den Text. Ich kann mir das gut vorstellen. HFF, Old Owl. . Ich wünsche Dir ein schönes und sonniges Wochenende! Bleib gesund.
4 months ago ( translate )

Annemarie said:

interesting find

HFF
4 months ago ( translate )

Roger (Grisly) said:

Nice capture and a variation on our Magpies Old Owl,
HFF and a lovely weekend
4 months ago

Old Owl replied to Roger (Grisly):

Your magpies are not related to our magpies, Roger: yours are corvids, ours aren't. The only reason they have the same name (in English) is because they are black and white. I guess those first colonists/prisoners from England saw a black and white bird and matched it to the one they knew from back home. Ours are far nicer and, as I said above, are wonderful singers.
4 months ago

J.Garcia said:

They are sociable and not afraid of children...
Thanx for the very interesting information, too
4 months ago

J.Garcia said:

Thank you for posting to "Perching Birds" Group
4 months ago

Tanja - Loughcrew said:

Ich war jetzt neugierig.... :)
youtu.be/oYEYc8Ge3nw?si=gEIB1QkilREOHTUy
Nun ja...ungewöhnlicher Gesang aber hauptsache, sie bleiben friedlich!
hFF Dir :)
4 months ago ( translate )

Old Owl replied to Tanja - Loughcrew:

Thank you for the recording, Tanja. That song of the magpie is the sound of Australia.
4 months ago

Fred Fouarge said:

Oude UIL --een interessante Vogelkooi HFF
4 months ago ( translate )

Christa1004 said:

In France, magpies are always called thieves, they are supposed to steal all what glitters... HFF Old Owl.
4 months ago

Xata said:

BW suits them, HFF to you.
4 months ago

Bergfex said:

HFF nachträglich, und ein schönes weitere Wochenende!
4 months ago ( translate )

Old Owl said:

Coincidentally, an article appeared in The Guardian today (15th September) which may interest some of you. Swooping Season
4 months ago