Magpies are so interesting. They appear to be very intelligent, very brave (sometimes even intimidating when they 'swoop' people to guard their young ones), and they are very family oriented. The family stays together in a group for quite some time, until the parents decide they have had enough of the young ones and shoo them away.
Magpies also have very beautiful songs, which they appear to sing when they want us to give them something, like the one pictured. I love to hear them sing; beautiful melodies trilling along, and no two the same.
I think that magpies are able to read too. There were signs everywhere at Whiteman Park where we had our bbq on Easter Saturday, saying "Do not feed the birds", but maybe he thought that we couldn't read. Or that we were too busy enjoying ourselves that we hadn't noticed the sign.
3 comments:
Kathryn, this is a famous poem by the Christchurch Poet Denis Glover who was a character - he was a complex and difficult person - he wrote a number of books and a few volumes of poetry. This poem is noted for the words he gives for the sound of magpies, which I think are very very good.
The Magpies
When Tom and Elizabeth took the farm
The bracken made their bed
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
Tom's hand was strong to the plough
and Elizabeth's lips were red
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
Year in year out they worked
while the pines grew overhead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
But all the beautiful crops soon went
to the mortgage man instead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
Elizabeth is dead now (it's long ago)
Old Tom's gone light in the head
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said
The farms still there. Mortgage corporations
couldn't give it away
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies say.
By Dennis Glover
:-)
And by the way - what an absolutely gorgeous photograph of you and the grandchildren? on your blogpage!!
Thank you for the poem, Alden. Now that I have read it again, I do remember it!!
And the magpies really do say "Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle", don't they? I just love listening to them. But the poem is very sad, and the magpies sing on regardless...
I had a couple of magpies out in my front garden this morning. I had thrown bread out for them and thought I might be rewarded with a song.
And re your second comment, I actually only have 3 grand-daughters - I borrowed the other two :-)
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