Friday 30 January 2015

Spot the Magpie

2015-01-30 magpie

… “Spot the magpie” …
Just a little game I play with myself on a snowy day!

The pictures in the collage above are from today; the photo below from just over a week ago. Snow has been “on and off” any number of times in between, as the weather has kept shifting back and forth between snow and rain.

CIMG2952-001

Mid January seems a bit early in the season to me (for the magpies to be nesting, I mean – cf my magpie post from last year), but perhaps it’s got something to do with winter so far having been rather mild. I also can’t help wondering if these two are the same couple that I watched two years ago trying, but then failing, to build a nest in the same tree. Back then, they gave me some good laughs as they seemed quite unable to figure out the art of nest-building and just kept dropping the sticks back on the ground, and finally gave up and (presumably) went in search of some other tree.

Well, whether the same couple or not, these ones now seem really determined, in spite of the snow  causing some confusion (like “oops! where’s my door?”)

Same builders or not, there are now magpie nests in both the trees in the yard outside my windows:

CIMG2995-001

 

10 comments:

  1. birds amaze me that they can build such intricate nests with little sticks and threads.. i love that last photo. beautiful tree and snow and nest. our cardinal broke into song all morning. he thinks it is spring..

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  2. Your last picture is just gorgeous! It is a beautiful view. I did spot the magpie in the last two pictures of your collage! I wonder if any even live in our area...as birdwatchers, we have never seen one. But I would love to!! they are very pretty and impressive

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  3. An afterthought...why is he building in mid winter?? Hey, maybe in the spring you will be showing us the babies!

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    1. I'm thinking they may be a bit confused by the mild temperatures so far this winter, Ginny. We had any snow at all until mid/late January.

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  4. How fun to have a nest in both trees. I have a small collection of abandon "small" nests. My favorite is a humming bird nest the size of my thumb, and soft as a feather.

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    1. There are no humming birds here, Wanda... so I've never seen one in real life.

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  5. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the same couple that did not succeed last year. Much as I like magpies, they can be somewhat annoying when they get into their very noisy "discussions" early in the morning - no way I can sleep through that!

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    1. I know what you mean, Meike. At one place where I lived in the past, there was a magpie nest in a tree right outside my bedroom window, and that was no fun at all in the mornings! Here, those trees are not quite so close to the building - and with the windows closed, the sound insulation is better here too. (And later in summer, when windows need to be kept open at night if it's hot, the morning noises of the magpies is usually drowned by that of by the gulls anyway!)

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  6. Birds nests have always intrigued me and I've always admired them. I'm sure these magpies will give you lots of interesting fun over the spring months.

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    Replies
    1. Well I won't be seeing much of the nest once the leaves are out, Graham. Hearing them, more likely... Hm! :)

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