YES ! My dad has returned as a magpie.
maggies. They are fascinating creatures. All birds are really, it's just that maggies are huge ground dwellers for obvious reasons. Being that they are so monogamous ,territorial, live in tribes etc, they are so interesting and easier to study.
The new place we live, has a family of magpies that instantly took to me / us. Our last house was the same, they would come in and get their twice daily feed.
We haven't set up a feeding routine here yet and I've been hesitating due to other people's input as to how bad it is for the birds. They claim that they will not survive in the wild if we feed them too much..... come off it, they are not dumb and reliant like us human beings. They come in for their feed morning and late afternoon, they also feed off of grubs etc all day everyday as well, so that theory I took as a possible threat to the maggies has been squashed to me.
Our last Maggie family was the time of year when they (the parents) are weaning their babies. It's hard in the beginning to distinguish who's who. Daddy Maggie is extremely handsome and has very defined tidy black and white markings. Mummy Maggie quite often is bigger than daddy, she has a grey chest and not as well groomed looking as dad. Baby Maggie, love them. They are wishy washy greys and very messy looking. Ha ha ha, love it. They are the ones screaming "mum, mum, mum, feed me". You will often hear them squeeling which can become irritating.
The family of maggies at our former house, used our feeding routine to help wean baby. It worked a treat. The only problem is, baby bird was seeing me as a step mum. Baby started to eventually learn (from much repeated reminders) that the food is here and you need to learn to come and feed yourself.
It began with the whole family at the food bowl, baby screeching and mummy hand feeding or beak feeding from the bowl to the baby. Slowly baby would start to approach the bowl. That in itself was fascinating. Mum would ignore baby until eventually baby helped himself. It took a fair bit of patience and timely practice to get there, but they got there.
The next process was the whole family approaching and feeding from the bowl. Mummy and daddy would slowly step away just slightly. Then a bit more and a bit more every day until baby learnt to come in alone. You could always look up and see mummy or daddy near by watching.
One day, baby came in for a feed. I had my back to the bowl and the old crows came in to feed too. Baby panicked and jumped onto my shoulder. It scared the crap out of me until I realised what was going on. Lucky, most times I had my extra thick dressing gown on so he never clawed me.
This happened a few times until baby discovered that the crows were more afraid of baby than he was of them.
It got to the stage, I'd be walking around the resort only to turn around and discover the Maggie family following me. This always made my day.
Back to the new home. Baby Maggie is already weaned here but they are so friendly. They spot me in the garden disturbing the dirt to either plant or just tidy up. Guaranteed within minutes they are there with me stealing all the grubs. Now that I really love.
They can always be spotted at a close distance when I'm in the garden.
Sadly, we have an orphaned baby just nervously trying to feed and fit in. He freaks me out with his anxiety.... a bird flys over and you see him panick and not know wether to run or fly. Daddy has chased him aggressively in the sky as he was a threat. This little orphan keeps coming back. I always keep an eye on them as the last encounter got a bit to aggressive. But that's nature and I have to leave it alone. This poor orphan ended up on his back with daddy over the top of him teaching him who's boss.
Since this submissive behaviour and the almost unseen white flag stating " I come in peace" from the orphaned Maggie, they seem to have accepted him in their territory. They haven't adopted him per say as he has to still keep distance. So I watch each day as they all learn to live together in their little community.
Evidently too, maggies live in tribes. I'm guessing this orphan is from the territorial tribe and has lost
both parents. The bossy behaviour in the beginning was purely done to teach pecking order. This is being established with success. No doubt they will have a few more minor encounters.
So my happy little story here has become daily entertainment and appreciation for such small things that we just don't notice. I didn't choose to watch maggies and learn of their nature and habits, they chose me. They have taught me so much and give me smiles everyday.
I remember dad had a passion for magpies and their beautiful nature. So here is dad, A HAPPY DADDY MAGPIE .
The new place we live, has a family of magpies that instantly took to me / us. Our last house was the same, they would come in and get their twice daily feed.
We haven't set up a feeding routine here yet and I've been hesitating due to other people's input as to how bad it is for the birds. They claim that they will not survive in the wild if we feed them too much..... come off it, they are not dumb and reliant like us human beings. They come in for their feed morning and late afternoon, they also feed off of grubs etc all day everyday as well, so that theory I took as a possible threat to the maggies has been squashed to me.
Our last Maggie family was the time of year when they (the parents) are weaning their babies. It's hard in the beginning to distinguish who's who. Daddy Maggie is extremely handsome and has very defined tidy black and white markings. Mummy Maggie quite often is bigger than daddy, she has a grey chest and not as well groomed looking as dad. Baby Maggie, love them. They are wishy washy greys and very messy looking. Ha ha ha, love it. They are the ones screaming "mum, mum, mum, feed me". You will often hear them squeeling which can become irritating.
The family of maggies at our former house, used our feeding routine to help wean baby. It worked a treat. The only problem is, baby bird was seeing me as a step mum. Baby started to eventually learn (from much repeated reminders) that the food is here and you need to learn to come and feed yourself.
It began with the whole family at the food bowl, baby screeching and mummy hand feeding or beak feeding from the bowl to the baby. Slowly baby would start to approach the bowl. That in itself was fascinating. Mum would ignore baby until eventually baby helped himself. It took a fair bit of patience and timely practice to get there, but they got there.
The next process was the whole family approaching and feeding from the bowl. Mummy and daddy would slowly step away just slightly. Then a bit more and a bit more every day until baby learnt to come in alone. You could always look up and see mummy or daddy near by watching.
One day, baby came in for a feed. I had my back to the bowl and the old crows came in to feed too. Baby panicked and jumped onto my shoulder. It scared the crap out of me until I realised what was going on. Lucky, most times I had my extra thick dressing gown on so he never clawed me.
This happened a few times until baby discovered that the crows were more afraid of baby than he was of them.
It got to the stage, I'd be walking around the resort only to turn around and discover the Maggie family following me. This always made my day.
Back to the new home. Baby Maggie is already weaned here but they are so friendly. They spot me in the garden disturbing the dirt to either plant or just tidy up. Guaranteed within minutes they are there with me stealing all the grubs. Now that I really love.
They can always be spotted at a close distance when I'm in the garden.
Sadly, we have an orphaned baby just nervously trying to feed and fit in. He freaks me out with his anxiety.... a bird flys over and you see him panick and not know wether to run or fly. Daddy has chased him aggressively in the sky as he was a threat. This little orphan keeps coming back. I always keep an eye on them as the last encounter got a bit to aggressive. But that's nature and I have to leave it alone. This poor orphan ended up on his back with daddy over the top of him teaching him who's boss.
Since this submissive behaviour and the almost unseen white flag stating " I come in peace" from the orphaned Maggie, they seem to have accepted him in their territory. They haven't adopted him per say as he has to still keep distance. So I watch each day as they all learn to live together in their little community.
Evidently too, maggies live in tribes. I'm guessing this orphan is from the territorial tribe and has lost
both parents. The bossy behaviour in the beginning was purely done to teach pecking order. This is being established with success. No doubt they will have a few more minor encounters.
So my happy little story here has become daily entertainment and appreciation for such small things that we just don't notice. I didn't choose to watch maggies and learn of their nature and habits, they chose me. They have taught me so much and give me smiles everyday.
I remember dad had a passion for magpies and their beautiful nature. So here is dad, A HAPPY DADDY MAGPIE .
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