(Australian) Magpie
.
Gentle warbling dawn
Glorious vibrato melody
Cranky squawky bully boy gangs
Chosun :gh:
_____________________________________________________________
P.S. Gretchen, I think our maggies are slighty different or is that just schizophrenic?!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Magpie
P.P.S. Tried to find an example of their "soft" warbling song and "mimicry" and this was the closest I could get in a short time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0yK0E-yTGw
P.P.P.S. Also tried to find an example of their "Mr. Hyde" nature, and came across this rather Seuth Afrikaan? sounding chap explaining the maggies predilection to attack (motor)/bicycles (apparently evolved over 1000's of years!!! What The??? LOL)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=WRH0ZPPS0Z8&feature=endscreen
Seriously though, they have caused blindness and even fatalities before, and are territorially aggressive during breeding season.
When my uncle was a kid, he even had one dive bomb him with so much conviction that its beak became firmly embedded in the back of his head!!!! Apparently the look on the faces and dropped jaws of the ER staff at the hospital was quite something |8.|
Reminds me of a poor "postie" who used to deliver around a big shopping centre near where I worked. Hundreds and hundreds! of people around, and yet this one cranky maggie used to relentlessly attack this poor bloke for about a mile - despite his best efforts at all manner of painted faces, large eyes, and sunglasses on the back of his helmet, riding hidden under the shopping centre awning, or even wheeling his motorbike through the centre to come out at various different exits ...... and this maggie would be waiting - and nail him every single time! :eek!:
I think the poor fella may have ended up in some sort of institution!
Beautiful dawn chorus though .... and if you ever hear one doing their 'soft warbling' or 'mimicry' - then that's a real treat ....
(same goes for the butcherbirds too)
But! They're not even afraid of giving raptors the odd bit of stick .... cranky indeed!