Friday 5 April 2013

Full nesters

A few weeks ago, I spent too much time following the antics of an almost full-grown Australian magpie that was determined not to become independent. You're all familiar with the behaviour, if not in magpies, in other birds and, possibly, in mammals as well.

The youngster traipsed after its parents, begging constantly (even when food was being shoved down its gullet) and pecking listlessly at the ground to indicate that it was starving because there wasn't anything in the fridge on the lawn.

The last straw came when one of the parents decided to spend a peaceful moment in the sun. The adult bird lay down on the grass, spread its wings to catch the rays, closed its eyes...and then found itself being trodden on by the youngster who thought that sunbathing looked like a Good Idea and that mum/dad had bagged The Best Spot, so that was where it should be.

After that incident, the parents were decidedly more distant. Hopefully, the youngster has discovered the wonderful world of foraging and finding its own spot in which to loll about.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the magpie, but here are pics of a young pied butcherbird (top) and pied currawong (bottom) hanging about in the garden. In both cases, the accompanying parent took advantage of the distraction to nip off while their youngsters were otherwise occupied. I hope they enjoyed their moment of solitude.