Move over Hitchcock. The Birds Canberra style

Snarky said :

I don’t particularly like the poem, but a New Zealand poet Dennis Glover nailed their warble beautifully in “The Magpies” as quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle. Try it out loud a few times – works very well.

🙂

🙂 Thanks. Not great, but well worth knowing.

I-filed said :

poetix said :

You haven’t heard their singing then? One of the most beautiful of sounds.
.

Peter Carey described the sound as “an angel gargling in a crystal vase” ….

‘For each is born with such a throat
as thanks his God with every note.’
Judith Wright ‘Magpies’

Agree with feeding them. They’re quite intelligent as far as birds go, and they can definitely recognise particular humans.

What’s happened to swooping season on the bike path through Lyneham, O’Connor and Turner? I haven’t been swooped nor have I seen anyone swooped. They must be contented maggies!! BTW if Hollywood ever needs the sound for an Aline speaking they need to record Wattle birds ‘talking’. Amazing sound.

Swooping notwithstanding (and an answer to that problem, incidentally, is to have a flag or windsock on the back so it’s slightly higher than your head), I love magpies – smart and inquisitive, and their song is the sound of this country.

I don’t particularly like the poem, but a New Zealand poet Dennis Glover nailed their warble beautifully in “The Magpies” as quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle. Try it out loud a few times – works very well.

🙂

rosebud said :

I’ve seen a vidoe (featured on Riot Act I think) taken by some Uni guys or CSIRO guys – something like that – where they experiment riding past the same swooping magpie first with a helmet and then without – and after very many times – it clearly shows that the maggie swoops the helmet but not the hair! Might be worth a try?

I remember that video- it was very interesting 🙂
I think this is the one:
http://the-riotact.com/what-magpies-swoop/14792

poetix said :

You haven’t heard their singing then? One of the most beautiful of sounds.
.

Peter Carey described the sound as “an angel gargling in a crystal vase” ….

Yeah, sure, it must be because they’re not nice. I’m curious to know what a “nice” as opposed to a “not nice” bird is.

It’s probably personal.

screaming banshee said :

Nothing endagered about them, poison.

There are plenty of much nicer native species to have about that these pests scare off.

You haven’t heard their singing then? One of the most beautiful of sounds.
And just incidentally, poisoning them is illegal, and also likely to harm other birds (and pets).