Mrs Magpie

Another phone call….a voice on the other end asking me please can I take this bird.  So of course I said yes, and the voice said, can I drop him off now?  I gave him my address, and a little while later, I had a magpie.  They are black and white birds like magpies from overseas, and they share certain habits like stealing things, but they’re not related to them at all.  And this one turned out to be even more different…..

Anyway, all this bloke could tell me for sure was that it couldn’t fly, and there are quite a few reasons for that ranging from head injuries to broken wings, and being night time, the magpie was interested in going to sleep.  A cursory glance was all it got, which told me all its limbs were attached at the right angles, so I settled it down for the night in a carry cage.  Next morning I uncovered it, and discovered three things.  One it was an adult (the beak is longer and a different colour in an adult, and the black colouring is more definite), two, it was a she (again, you can tell by the colouring, the females necks look dirty, the males brilliant white), and three her wing had been cut quite severely, so she couldn’t fly.  So someone had either raised her and decided she HAD to stay, or they had caught her with the same object, that she was staying whether she liked or not.  Well she had escaped somehow, and turned up at my place, so I had a long term resident who needed to be rehabilitated and allowed to be a wild bird again, and she had to grow some new feathers, and that would take a long time.  So I took her to the aviary, and took some food down, I knew she’d eat some mince or soaked dog biscuits till I could provide worms and grubs.  As I carried the cage down, she started making funny little “whoooooooah” noises, and I thought well what have we here?  Australian magpies warble, they have they most beautiful song, but I had heard wild birds mimic before, so I’m thinking what can she do?  I put her in the aviary, and she climbed to the top perch, still saying “whoooooooooooooah” occasionally.  Once I had her settled, and given her some food, which she took out of my hand, and I knew for certain then she had been hand reared, I said “whooooooooah” back to her.  Well, we then started a contest, saying it back and forth till she had had enough and said it 3 times in quick succession, then nothing more!  I thought to myself, this could be interesting….

She spent several days in the aviary till I felt she was acclimatised to my place, and then I started letting her out during the day, and back into the aviary at night time.  During this time I discovered she had more noises to her repertoire.  One time she whistled the first line of “How Much is that Doggie in the Window”, another time it was the first few bars of the “1812 Overture”, there were police sirens, dogs barking, chooks cackling.  She would go out each day and dig up her own grubs and worms, so I only had to do that for the first day or two, and she would sit on the sprinkler if I had it on, bathe in the dog’s water dish, and generally amuse herself.  She developed a great respect for the resident magpie group, they didn’t like her, because they saw her as an intruder.  Generally magpies are social birds, but also very territorial, and they don’t generally accept other birds into their groups, but I knew there was a group of juvenile and young adult magpies living nearby;  they moved around a fair bit to find food, but often called here for a free hand out.  Several baby magpies I had raised had joined them, waiting for a “vacancy” in one of the local groups when one of the older birds died.  So I was hoping she would go with them, when the time came.  But in the meantime, when one of the resident magpies came calling, she would run inside the house, or hide under the wheelbarrow, or even stand next to me, till they’d gone.  A couple of times previously she had been silly enough to try to defend herself, and had been pecked mercilessly for her trouble.  So she came to trust me, and even to like me.  If I came out of the house with food, she would revert to baby hood, and come running up the back yard with her wings fluttering and making the baby sound which means, “feed me, feed me”!  Her favourite was cheesecake.  She would take it so gently from my hand, and then clean under my fingernails to make sure there were no crumbs there.  But if things weren’t going the way she wanted, if she was upset for any reason, she would just run up to me, and grab a piece of skin (feet were her favourite), grab hold and twist, until it bled.  I had to warn people if they were coming into the back yard, wear “stout” protective footwear, and if possible warn me, so I could put her back in the aviary.

At one stage I was given a baby magpie to rear.  I put him in the aviary, and she desperately wanted to go in too.  So I let her, watching the whole time.  She wanted to feed him, so I gave her the food, and she took it to him and stuffed it down his throat, like a good parent will, one tiny grain at a time.  I was not allowed to feed him until she had gotten sick of her task.  Later on, she would search out food for him, giving him grubs and crickets.  He eventually grew to the stage where he could be released and joined the non breeding flock, as I hoped she would eventually.

Another funny little incident concerned a galah, a beautiful pink and grey parrot, very intelligent, but also rather opinionated.  The fellow had been injured, but was now well enough to go.  So I took him to the aviary, till he got his bearings and went.  In came Mrs Magpie, and sat down next to him.  This was too much for him and he shrieked at her.  She was highly offended at this treatment and flew out of the aviary.  About half an hour later, she just walked in quietly, and hopped up on the perches till she got to the one he was sitting on.  She waited till he was looking away, and quickly sidled up and pulled his tail feathers.  Well!  He shrieked again!  She in the meantime had quickly scuttled down the perch and was sitting there looking very innocent.  She had her revenge…..

After quite a long time, her feathers started to regrow, and she started to want her freedom.  She was being visited by members of the juveniles, in particular one young male.  It was hilarious watching them.  She would puff herself out and look very important, he would make himself as thin as possible, and they would have wrestles, and roll round the grass, then get up, and he would fly off, only to return later, with or without reinforcements.  After a time she accepted him, and she started trying to fly off with him.  Trouble was she couldn’t fly very well yet, and she usually ended up getting herself into strife.  But she was anxious to taste freedom, and I thought she deserved the chance.  The first time she left, she went next door.  I knew she was safe there, but next morning, I found her walking up the drive way to our place, walking, not flying and looking very upset, so I let her in, and she walked straight to the aviary and perched on the top branch and wouldn’t talk to me.  “Well that must have gone well,” I thought.  She did this a few times, each time after a visit from the young male, and each time a little further, and of course each time I had to rescue her.  In the meantime of course her feathers were growing, and her flying improving, and yes one day she went.  For a while we could hear “How Much is that Doggie in the Window” coming from neighbouring trees, and then the flock moved.  I know how much she wanted her freedom, but I missed her, but I doubt she missed me, unless she wanted cheesecake……