Juvenile Grey Butcherbird (1 Viewer)

Hi all...I'm a newbie.

Is it normal for these young birds to be so friendly with humans? Mine (who is just called butcherbird because I don't know what sex it is) has been coming for food for 2 weeks. It started with him hanging upside down from the gutter looking at me, then the next day it landed on a chair only 3' away. Now he pops in regularly...and sometimes he's not hungry...he just wants to sing, talk, sing, talk and talk and talk till my eyes are glazing over. |8.|

Yesterday I heard my 94 year old mum, who was sitting in the lounge room, say "Hello butcherbird." I went to the room and there was the bird on a dining room chair, calm as anything. I spoke to him then went to close the doors to the other rooms. He went outside and waited in his usual spot for food.

Mum later said..."This isn't the first time he's been in!!!!" :eek!:

Seems a bit bizarre, but mum said that when she was a girl they had a friendly butcherbird too.

I had one in Central Vic. bush where they are not all that common as books suggest, maybe because of maggies I think. Or at least near us we had very aggressive maggies would take anything on, even wedgies.

It didn't come into house but would sit on verandah furniture or rail just a couple of yards away from us while we had a coldie and would hang lizards and birds and even plums it caught or stole on nails meant to be used for my archery gear and tools!

jape said:

I had one in Central Vic. bush where they are not all that common as books suggest, maybe because of maggies I think. Or at least near us we had very aggressive maggies would take anything on, even wedgies.

It didn't come into house but would sit on verandah furniture or rail just a couple of yards away from us while we had a coldie and would hang lizards and birds and even plums it caught or stole on nails meant to be used for my archery gear and tools!

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Thank you for replying...it's hard being a newbie and you hope someone notices you.

I also have maggies here. In the beginning they tolerated him, right up until they saw how friendly he had become with me.Now they are starting to chase him away. There is an adult butcherbird who also comes for food,(he isn't friendly...keeps his distance) but they are ok with that one....it seems they choose which bird they are irritated by...almost like they are jealous.

I would like to point out that I have never deliberately put food out to attract birds...I just seem to end up with them somehow. The three juvenile maggies who arrived here where dumped here by their father. He turned up one day, landing about 6' away and just stood there staring at me. I threw him some meat, then another piece. He flew away. Next morning he wasn't there, just a scruffy young one which I fed, and then suddenly there were two more standing beside him.

I didn't understand why he had dumped them on me, until he returned 3 weeks later, shooed them away, chopped the food into little bits, grabbed it all and flew off without eating any of it...he had a new nest of chicks to feed...that's why he needed to get rid of the older ones.

They thrived despite it being winter and I was thrilled to see them poking through the garden finding natural food...laughed my head off at one trying to pull a long worm out of the ground.

This young butcherbird has captured my heart with his friendliness and hilarious behaviour.

You are talking of things other than birding and some will see and nod, some will say g'day. It is a wonder and it is you and your shaping of your world. It is good to share but don't rely on it, the gift is there itself and that is enough. You are not alone and the birds themselves tell you that, humans are just part of it.

jape said:

You are talking of things other than birding and some will see and nod, some will say g'day. It is a wonder and it is you and your shaping of your world. It is good to share but don't rely on it, the gift is there itself and that is enough. You are not alone and the birds themselves tell you that, humans are just part of it.

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I honestly don't understand any of your post.

I thought I was talking about 'birding' when I asked about the friendliness of the butcherbird...am I in the wrong forum?

What does 'It is good to share, but don't rely on it' mean?

Seems I have done something wrong but I don't know what.

That's okay PaintedPony, You're in the right spot and frankly I'm not sure what Jape is going on about either.

KC Foggin said:

That's okay PaintedPony, You're in the right spot and frankly I'm not sure what Jape is going on about either.

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Thank you...I was beginning to think my time on this MB would be very short lived. ||

So it's ok to speak about your experiences with the wild birds who have entered your life?

of course it is ok. i just referred to fact you are talking about a relationship with nature more finely tuned, from your own descriptive even emotional use of words, than most would notice through a set of bins while listing a species. most birders are obviously nature lovers but you seemed to be suggesting a deeper empathy and reasoning behind your stories that i was supporting. obviously i was wrong and you wanted approval or attention perhaps, not perceptive understanding. you talked of daddy bird bringing his kids to you to save and how they just come to you.

'its good to share' etc referred back to your own 'it's hard being a newbie and you hope someone notices you.'
it is good to share your experiences in a forum of strangers but dont rely on it for understanding or even an aswer. posts get missed, this place flies along at times and after a few hours, esoecially with time zones, a post can end up pages back on the 'todays posts' list. i made a pist for example just 3 hrs ago, 67 people have read it and it is at bottom of page 2, no answers. it is not personal, it is hundreds of people an hour at times with their own interests and angles
it is a also sometimes a short post forum where many answer in just a line or two. and easy to misunderstand each other too.

jape said:

of course it is ok. i just referred to fact you are talking about a relationship with nature more finely tuned, from your own descriptive even emotional use of words, than most would notice through a set of bins while listing a species. most birders are obviously nature lovers but you seemed to be suggesting a deeper empathy and reasoning behind your stories that i was supporting. obviously i was wrong and you wanted approval or attention perhaps, not perceptive understanding.

'its good to share' etc referred back to your own 'it's hard being a newbie and you hope someone notices you.'
it is a short post forum where many answer in just a line or two. and easy to misunderstand each other too.

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I wasn't seeking either attention or approval...I don't need that from strangers, only the people I care about.

Would you like to suggest another forum or bird MB where it is more appropriate for someone like me wanting to speak the way I speak?

PaintedPony, you are on a worldwide BirdForum and with the number of members we have there will always be strangers who, like you, can post their thoughts on something which might not be agreeable to some but you learn to ignore those that you don't agree with.

LOL PP.... no you're doing fine in here where you are. I think it's just a case of not understanding a turn of phrase used on opposite sides of the world.

Settle down and relax - there's no problems with your posts.

Poor Jape, I didn't think he said anything unfriendly!