magpies...

While walking down my street I couldn’t help but notice all the wildlife that I was surrounded by. I noticed all these different species of birds...varying from plant to plant. There were crows in the paper bark trees in the islands in the middle of the road, little wattle birds nestled within the small shrubs. There were pink and grey galas grazing the grass across the road as their daily business.

But one group of birds that I have recently noticed from my daily routine of having to walk home from the bus station were these 'Magpies'... weirdly enough, everyday at around 6pm there would be a group of about 3-5 magpies on my next door neighbors lawn. Sometimes they would be sitting along the electric wires in a row from pole to pole...where they would sing to each other. And of course, they wouldn’t have caught my attention if it wasn’t for their distinct calls (that I would presume was to confirm their territories)… and attacking anyone who walked by. but then, this confused me...I thought that only male magpies sing to find a mate, and that the females were the quiet ones who get all defensive when danger approaches their nests :S...so now why then were there a group of maggies singing together in a circle on my next door neighbors lawn and attacking nearby pedestrians today????? I couldn’t tell if they were all males singing…or females attacking and protecting…I’m not sure…but it did confuse me. Mind you, I don’t really know much about magpies so this may jus be another one of those normal things that happen all the time that I have never really allowed myself to think about or even notice.