A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Magpie's visit this morning

I'm still learning how to use our new digital camera and share photos- hope this will work! Here is one of our magpie friends. They are very intelligent and friendly (except for a few weeks in spring), and they can sing up a storm. Guess that's why they are my favourite birds around here.

Good Picture Stevie!!!!! Looks like your learning your camera really well,

Thats' a lovely pic, but it confused me for a moment, as I was intrigued by the black chest, and did some searches on American magpies, which looked similar to ours with white chests, it took a bit of to and fro'ing to remember that you are not in America, and that your bird is actually an Australian magpie duh! I haven't even the excuse that it is early here.

At least I know what your Magpies look like now!

big birdy.

VERY NICE! Yes those ARE different from the U.K. Magpies and the Western U.S. Magpies. I am in Tennessee, a State in the Southeastern U.S., and we DON'T have Magpies here, but we DO have American Crows, Blue Jays, and an occasional Raven, Which are in the same family with Magpies, and are VERY close relatives!

nice picture. it looks as if you called his name and he turned for you to take the picture!

Very nice picture!

Thanks everyone, I am so chuffed that I actually managed to take a photo and post it. With cameras, I am just a point-and-shoot kind of guy, and I.T. is not my strong point!!

Benjismum, some of our magpies look different to this. Last Christmas we went to Perth, on the west coast, and I noticed that their magpies have more white on them, and have a different song from the ones over here.

We have some songbirds from the UK here; the blackbirds are quite plentiful. They are a pain when I put new mulch in, becasue they dig it all up and scatter it over the lawn!

Our Corvids (The Magpie/Crow/Jay/Raven Family) are not musical at all. I listened to YOUR Magpies today, stevie_g, and they have quite an amazing song! There are HUNDREDS of sites on the internet that have free recordings of EVERY known bird species on Earth. I used YouTube, today.

Yes, isn't it interesting that there is so much difference in these closely related birds? The magpies and ravens also fight with each other quite a bit here. Although the ravens are bigger, the magpies usually win.

What are the best songbirds in Tennessee?

How strange that yours are musical; like Thornius, our Corvids are just raucous screechers. I didn't know that you could get bird recordings on the internet, so I'm off to Youtube to hear what yours sound like

Probably the Northern Mockingbirds, Brown Thrashers, and Catbirds are the largest songbirds. All three are VERY close relatives, and I have all three in my yard during the year. All are Mimids, that is, they LOVE to learn and imitate new sounds, just like your Lyrebird. All three are the same size, about the size of a Lorikeet. Of the three, the Brown Thrasher has the most beautiful voice, the Mockingbird has the most incredible repertoire, and the Catbird makes a cat-like, "Mewing" sound that gives this bird its name

Okay, I will try to hear those birds (when I get on a computer with working speakers). So that's why you shouldn't kill a mockingbird.

What about in the UK- is the blackbird the best singer? They do have a beautiful voice.

Yes I think Blackbirds have an amazing song, there's nothing quite like a singing Blackbird high on a tree on a sunny summers evening! Although our little Robins can give them a run for their money with their singing.

Interesting to learn about the Mimids (new word for me)in other countries. I used to work for the RSPCA and we had a resident one winged Magpie, who could actually talk just like a parrot. Frightened the life out of me the first time she spoke!

Thornius there are now three more for me to listen to on Youtube, you're keeping me busy! The Australian Magpie has a most unusual song!

Yes, that would have been a shock. We have imported Indian Mynahs (we import just about anything here), and they are great imitators. I've heard them imitating telephones in our back yard. My supervisor, who grew up in Sri Lanka, said they were often kept as pets, and could talk quite well.

Starlings are members of the Myna family, and, if kept as pets, can learn to talk, too. Go to YouTube and look at Talking Starlings.

We are now fairly certain, that Wild American Crows have developed their OWN language, as rich and complex as any human language. I have been CLOSELY observing them for 50 years now, (I am 56 years old) and am astonished at how they carry on idle chit-chat amongst themselves. As a boy, I even had several as pets and have observed them patiently trying to carry on a conversation with ME, repeating the SAME Crow-language phrase over and over again, and even pantomiming actions to me, as they said it, trying to show me WHAT they were saying. Apparently THIS language is hard-wired into their brain, so they are hatched ALREADY knowing THEIR language. I believe they are equal to humans in intellect.

Yes, the crows are very smart. I think we just don't realise it because in our busy lives, not many people take the time to observe nature, as you have done.

Also, I find that when observing nature, we see a lot of very funny things. We probably all need to just put a brick through the TV and get outside more!

I LOVE the TELLY!!!!

Okay, I admit, I haven't done it to our telly, but I have been tempted at times!

Actually, Telly is a Brit term. Here in the U.S. we just call it the TV. And most of us use Satellite or Cable now. This gives us about 200 channels to choose from.

That's a lot of channels! We don't watch a lot, so probably won't get cable. But you would be able to get a lot of good documentaries, I'm guessing.

I like the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and BBC America.

Those would be pretty much what I'd watch too. Annnnd, I must confess I am a big kid, so have to watch all the latest kids' movies when they come out. Loved Kung Fu Panda, Horton Hears a Who etc! If I could invite 2 characters to dinner, it would be Jack Black and Jim Carrey (of course, my wife might have something to say about that!).

I'm a furry (The tame non-controversial type). I LOVED Over the Hedge and the Narnia movies. My favorite animals are rabbits and cats (even though I am the Bird Man).. I have TWO male Lop-eared Bunnies as pets. A black one, Two Bean Bags, and a silver grey one, named Rainbow. they are loungingin their cages next to my computer right now. I have no cats at present, but have had 15 adult cats at one time in the past, 20 years ago. I visit the neighbors' cats everyday as I walk the neighborhood doing bird photography. I liked Kung-Fu Panda, but the rest of my family didn't.

We are the same; cats and rabbits. 2 female cats, and 2 male dwarf lop-ears. Actually, the animals mainly belong to the kids, but you can probably guess who does a lot of the looking after the animals! The cats get along very well with each other, and with the rabbits, but the rabbits don't see eye to eye with each other at all. If we let them out together, it's war!!

Stevie we have the same thing here, we've had dogs, cats, ponies, guinea pigs, gerbils, stick insects.........the list goes on, and yes I end up doing the looking after too! but I quite like it really (but don't tell the kids :wink:)

We also have a Catahoula Leopard Dog named, Lucky, who is best buddies with our bunnies. Catahoulas are an American breed of dog that was developed by the Chickasaw tribe of Native Americans. They are medium sized, short-haired dogs, that are AMAZING hunters and herd dogs. They have white toes and chests, Spots, anywhere from one to dozens (Hence the Name Leopard), and MOST amazing, their eyes. Their eyes are a swirled mixture of brown and bluish-white, sort of like a MELTED chocolate-vanilla Sundae. They have an ODD, catlike personality, but make INCREDIBLY good pets. Catahoulas were first reported, by Spanish explorers in the 16th Century,in the Southeastern U.S. These dogs were living with the Chickasaws on the shores of Lake Catahoula (hence the name Catahoula), in North-central Louisiana.

LUCKY, the Catahoula Leopard Dog (sporting his FANCY dog collar from Scotland)



Those are NOT reflections of light in his eyes. His eyes look like that in ANY lighting!

Awesome, Thorny. I love dogs with blue in the eyes.

Wow, Lucky is a great- looking dog, with those amazing eyes. Probably has a good personality too, by the looks of him. We love dogs, but probably won't get one in the near future. Maybe if we had a large property.

Benjismum, hopefully the kids won't find out that you like looking after their animals! Anyway, one day they will have to look after animals, when they have their own children!

Gosh those eyes are amazing, I've heard of Catahoulas, but never seen one before.

Those eyes are just amazing!!! I am so glad he is sucha good friend to your bunnies.

Here are Lucky and Two Bean Bags socializing. I wonder who is the dominant male here?


Lucky and Two Bean Bags

Great photo of 2 friends. I'm curious about how 'Two Bean Bags' got his name?

We gave the rabbit to my then 4-year-old grandson for his birthday and when we asked him what he wanted to name the bunny, he looked around his room and saw his Two Bean Bag chairs against the wall and said, "I want to name him Two Bean Bags". The name stuck, and so we call him Two Bean Bags.

Aw that is so cute. He certainly looks like he has the dog under control!

Of Course he controls the dog......look at the CLAWS on that bunny!!! Actually, Bags has a VERY sweet and gentle nature.

Bunnies' teeth and claws continuously grow, so you have to give them hard things to chew on to wear down their teeth. Their claws are a different story. It is difficult to trim their claws. I HAVEN'T found an easy way to do it. The best thing I've found for the bunnies' teeth is Jawbreaker Candies. They are literally ROCK hard and very sweet.

Rabbits have a bigger sweet tooth than humans. They love many fruits, especially apples, and go CRAZY over candy. I keep candy on hand for me and the bunnies to snack on. They also LOVE willow branches from Weeping willow trees. I have a large Weeping willow in my front yard that I have to prune regularly. I give the cuttings to the bunnies who quickly devour every scrap of them, and in return (literally) give me rich fertilizer in their litter box, which I spread around the willow Tree to feed it. It's a win/win situation!

Bags Bunny...what's up, Doc?

I didn't know bunnies like sweets. Will have to try them on a candy cane. The other day my wife gave our rabbits some silverbeet. There are some vegetables you should only give to rabbits (i.e. brussels sprouts). And then there are some vegetables that even a rabbit won't eat. Silverbeet apparently falls into the latter category!

aw Thorny--what a cute picture--thanks for sharing.

Rabbits are not that wild about carrots either to destroy a popular misconception. They do eat them, but more or less just nibble at them. Often they will leave half the carrot uneaten. The green TOPS of carrots are a different story. They LOVE the leafy tops. My rabbits have even eaten crisp Pepperoni before. Yes, rabbits and other rodents DO eat a little animal protein from time to time. I ran across a picture on the internet the other day, of a Gray Squirrel eating a bird it caught at a feeder. I knew that squirrels occasionally eat insects but I was astonished by this photo!

Hmmm. I guess all that salad does get a bit boring after a while.