Pics from Australia

Yowie wrote:

Our magpies are different to yours. They're like corvids (crow & raven
family) and have the most gorgeous song that sounds even better at the dawn
of a hot summer day in the bush.

Here's a link to some sounds:

http://www.northamptonshirewildlife....nd/AUSMAGP.WAV
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie.mp3

And a group of them, which I love:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie-group.mp3

Our magpies are corvids, too, but their song is about as beautiful as
that of crows and ravens. Your magpies sound wonderful, though.

--
Marina, Frank, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Nikki.
marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 19:58:40 -0600, John F. Eldredge
yodeled:

On Mon, 5 Dec 2005 06:14:16 +1100, "Yowie"
wrote:

wrote in message
. ..
Yowie wrote:

Speaking of which, I ran over a magpie today. I suspect in reality I put
it
out of its misery, because it bounced off antoher car before I hit it.
But
it still made me cry and feel kinda sick. So if any of you want to spare
some thoughts (probably not purrs, for this native bird, cats are their
main
predator) for the bird wiht the most beautiful song in the world, I'd
apprecaite it.

Wingflaps for the magpie.

Do magpies understand that cats are their predators? I know that many
animals that originally evolved without cats around never really learn
to be afraid of them, because the cats were introduced to that ecosystem
relatively recently. (You could substitute any predatory animal for
"cat" - but I think cats in particular play this role, because they've
accompanied humans on their trips around the world. Then they end up
in places where their prey don't know enough to run/fly/swim away from
them, and the cats decimate their populations.)

Our magpies are corvids - part of the Raven & Crow family. They're
intelligent birds and would most likely know about cats. That they are so
intelligent meant that I was doubly surprised to see one on the road. Bird
roadkill usually consists of seagulls, pidgeons & mynah birds, none of which
I'd particularly mourn for. But its also the time when magpie fledglings
start becoming independant of Mom & Dad so perhaps it hadn't learnt yet.

Still sad, even if they do swoop at me.

Yowie


It could be that this particular magpie was inexperienced, or got
distracted by something and misjudged its timing. I once was
traveling by bus with a church group, and could see a swallow ahead of
us that seemed to be playing a game. It would fly at each car at just
above hood level, then ride the slipstream up and over the car roof,
returning to hood level. Unfortunately, it didn't allow for the
greater height of the bus, and struck the bus just above the
windshield. It must have been killed instantly, as we were moving at
highway speeds.


Swallows are incredible flyers, and I wouldn't be surprised-- they
seem to be daredevils, and go swooping all over the place. They are
aggressive little mites too, and they have aerial battles that look
just terrifying. When I was last in the UK, my hosts and I were
sitting in the garden one late afternoon when a swallow came hurtling
out of the sky, and plummeted to the ground, where it landed, stone
dead.


Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

Make Levees, Not War

Yowie wrote:

Here's a link to some sounds:

http://www.northamptonshirewildlife....nd/AUSMAGP.WAV
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie.mp3

And a group of them, which I love:
http://www.anbg.gov.au/sounds/magpie-group.mp3

These all got Smudge's attention!

That is a lovely sound. Has a hint of seagull song in it.

Joyce

On Sat 03 Dec 2005 07:04:38a, Yowie wrote in
rec.pets.cats.anecdotes ):

Speaking of which, I ran over a magpie today. I suspect in
reality I put it out of its misery, because it bounced off
antoher car before I hit it. But it still made me cry and feel
kinda sick. So if any of you want to spare some thoughts
(probably not purrs, for this native bird, cats are their main
predator) for the bird wiht the most beautiful song in the
world, I'd apprecaite it.

Ooo, don't you hate that? Accidents happen! I have a lot of
squirrels in my yard at times, and most of them don't even run from
me if they're busy eating and I'm just running out to my car to leave
or something. One day I had to make a quick run out, came back and
found a dead squirrel at the end of my driveway. I did "feel"
something as I backed out, but there's often debris from the trees or
a newspaper or something that I haven't picked up, so I didn't give
it a thought at the time. I felt so bad when I came home because I'm
pretty sure it was me that ran over that little squirrel.

--
Cheryl