Magpies Are Little Feckers

They sure are! Marvellous birds. They look like they've borrowed the beak off a duck, like the platypus. What do they like to eat, GA - apart from whatever's being cooked in the kitchen, by the look of it! Are they particularly sociable where humans are concerned? This lot certainly look very friendly - but what beady little eyes! :D
 
I'm assuming that you have no kookaburras living in the close vicinity of your house then GA? If you did you wouldn't be saying everyone should have them! Once you've heard a kookaburra screaming at 5am when you should be asleep you lose all affection for them, believe me..
 
Yes, they are indeed kookaburras. We have a flock of 8 of them (they stay with their families their entire life).

They are extremely intelligent and proud. And yes they are friendly, these lot are friendly enough to even let me pat them and scratch them. The current babies just love being fussed about.

The following picture shows you just how friendly they are:

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Unfortunately they are loud, they make a growling sound like a dog, which is their welcoming hello greeting in appreciation of me feeding them.
 
Fantastic! Say, GA, just rip the cover off the barbie there, and I'll be round in 24 hours! :D

Gosh - as friendly as we say our urban birds are, I know of only the pigeons in Trafalgar Square which will willingly come to hand. What do you feed them, GA?
 
Originally posted by Honest Tom@May 28 2007, 02:26 PM
What a gorgeous looking bird.
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Myself and the other Honest Tom who uses the bulging eyed emoticon would like to distance ourselves from that sexist comment. Feck'n old eejit.
 
Originally posted by krizon@May 28 2007, 11:07 AM
Fantastic! Say, GA, just rip the cover off the barbie there, and I'll be round in 24 hours! :D

Gosh - as friendly as we say our urban birds are, I know of only the pigeons in Trafalgar Square which will willingly come to hand. What do you feed them, GA?
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They eat raw meat. Only one piece each though - we try to minimize feeding them as much meat as possible.

Morning arrival time: 6:30am (which is fine as I am up for work).
Evening arrival time: 4:00pm - my mother get stuck with the evening "shift".

They bring some interesting things into our backyard, one day they even brought a blue tongue lizard that they were eating. I have seen them eat snakes, smaller lizards, and lots of bugs.

Yes...the barbie! Which we have to cover. The birds have stolen a couple of snags from them! Not to mention the bruschetta they got into back in January. :P
 
I heard the most awful noise at the bottom of my garden last week. It was awful like something being attacked. I ran down there with Barney only to see what looked like a duck (could only see a head) and two magpies flew off when I threw a stick into the bushes. They had clearly been attacking another bird or possibly a nest. I don't know what was going on but the noise was awful. I am currently training Barney to chase away (but not catch) the magpies and the squirrels from our garden. We are desperately trying to tempt small birds into our new garden and the magpies and squirrels seem to get to the food first. I won't give in though as the birds and their babies have been appearing albeit for short periods of time.
 
Bruschetta? Those kookaburras have some darn fancy dining habits! :D Thanks, GA. Their beaks look more suited to scooping up fish or frogs, rather than spearing reptiles, so Australia's birds, like so many of its animals, defy easy categorisation.
 
There were 10 of them this morning. I think the extended family were around! :D
They actually are born to catch lizards, snakes and insects and mice, they dive in, grab the snake, and then to kill it by bashing it with their beak, until the victim breaks its neck and dies. Its fascinating to watch.

The darlings used to bash the meat, until they realised it wasn't "alive."
 
:laughing: On our current 'Springwatch' programme, we could see four brilliant turquoise Kingfishers all sitting together and, while they're much smaller than the Kookaburras, their body shape is very similar. They dive into streams and take tiny fish, which they kill or at least stun in the same way, before swallowing whole. Their head shape is also like the Kooka's - ideal for a streamlined dive. I'm surprised yours don't dive - or do they dip into streams, too? When I visited Australia I caught sight of a few in the distance, and heard their mad laughter! I didn't realize they could come to hand like your family, GA. Wonderful.
 
Originally posted by krizon@May 29 2007, 11:11 AM
:laughing: On our current 'Springwatch' programme, we could see four brilliant turquoise Kingfishers all sitting together and, while they're much smaller than the Kookaburras, their body shape is very similar. They dive into streams and take tiny fish, which they kill or at least stun in the same way, before swallowing whole. Their head shape is also like the Kooka's - ideal for a streamlined dive. I'm surprised yours don't dive - or do they dip into streams, too? When I visited Australia I caught sight of a few in the distance, and heard their mad laughter! I didn't realize they could come to hand like your family, GA. Wonderful.
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It took a bit of time for them to trust us. For me to pat them and stroke them, approximately 8 months.

How they arrived? Well one morning we saw one sitting on our clothes line, I went in got some raw chicken, and fed it. The next day it came back. Then 2 days later, it was X2 birds, and then more and more and more. Finally we had the entire family of 6 on our clothesline.

No better site than a family of kookas growling at you!
 
What I will do tonight, I will upload some more pictures in the photo section of this forum, for people to see of the birds.
 
GA, do they not make a severe mess of your patio and pool? I've a couple of pigeons visit me and the patio is covered in it.
 
Sounds like ducklings have a tough time. Other day while out walking the dog a duck started going crazy looks around to see the mother duck flying after a heron which had one of her ducklings but to no avail.
 
Originally posted by Honest Tom@May 30 2007, 07:45 AM
GA, do they not make a severe mess of your patio and pool? I've a couple of pigeons visit me and the patio is covered in it.
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Nope, the clothesline is above grass :)
 
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