Hello
We have had magpies visit our yard for over 15 years now.
Now 2 Currawongs (hope spelling is correct).
The magpies seem to tolerate them, though if they go for the same piece
of food the magpies snap at them, the c/wongs fly a few feet away and
wait around.
Should we attempt to make the c/wongs not feel welcome (and if so how).
Or will they all live together happily ever after ??

Thanks

Tony
--
"The Gene Pool could use a little Chlorine"

"Me" wrote in message
. net...
Hello
We have had magpies visit our yard for over 15 years now.
Now 2 Currawongs (hope spelling is correct).
The magpies seem to tolerate them, though if they go for the same piece
of food the magpies snap at them, the c/wongs fly a few feet away and
wait around.
Should we attempt to make the c/wongs not feel welcome (and if so how).
Or will they all live together happily ever after ??

Thanks

Tony


I would leave them alone to sort it out.

BTW feeding wild birds is not a good idea. You may give them an unbalanced
diet, you may make them dependent on you (and not always be there to service
the dependence), you may alter the balance of species by supporting some and
you may create a nuisance.

David

for my money tony,

give the currawongs the big heave-ho, if you feed 1 or 2 you will have
40 in no time,and they will dominate, even rob nests of breeding
birds.

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 16:33:18 +1100, Me wrote:

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

my e/mail addies have spam filters you should know what to delete before you send.

"Me" wrote in message
. net...
Hello
We have had magpies visit our yard for over 15 years now.
Now 2 Currawongs (hope spelling is correct).
The magpies seem to tolerate them, though if they go for the same piece
of food the magpies snap at them, the c/wongs fly a few feet away and
wait around.
Should we attempt to make the c/wongs not feel welcome (and if so how).
Or will they all live together happily ever after ??

Thanks

Tony
--
"The Gene Pool could use a little Chlorine"

Tony,

we have always had a family of friendly Magpies in our yard and always
competing against Currawongs or Kookaburras. We also didn't want to feed the
Currawongs and cause their numbers to inscrease, but if you feed the Magpies
by throwing food to them, the Currawongs will always get enough to keep them
around. We feed our Magpies on most days, but despite this, they still earn
an honest living feeding on grubs etc.

We had one last year that would walk into the house and eat off the kitchen
floor which avoided competition with other birds.

Regards,
Paul

G'day

I'm with Paul and the local Maggies come into my house too, often
pooping on the carpet, but that's OK. Let it dry and it brushes off
easily. I've lived in this house for 13 years and the first year or two
there were no birds because the previous owners had two cats.

When the Maggies come I ask them to sing for their supper, and they do
just that.....while I cut up food which I vary from day to day and not
give them so much that they will be totally dependent on my handouts.

Often they will sit outside my bedroom window at 4am and sing a quiet
song, so I tell them to come back at a more reasonable time....for them
that's more like 7.30-8.00am. They are so nice to have around and they
pick through the garden or eat out of my hand. Mum, Dad and three kids
this year....then a second clutch of three, so it was a good year for
them, but they always bring the kids the first day out of the nest.
They are so funny to watch......and such good company.

Bronwyn ;-)

CrumpetHead wrote:

"Me" wrote in message
. net...

Hello
We have had magpies visit our yard for over 15 years now.
Now 2 Currawongs (hope spelling is correct).
The magpies seem to tolerate them, though if they go for the same piece
of food the magpies snap at them, the c/wongs fly a few feet away and
wait around.
Should we attempt to make the c/wongs not feel welcome (and if so how).
Or will they all live together happily ever after ??

Thanks

Tony
--
"The Gene Pool could use a little Chlorine"


Tony,

we have always had a family of friendly Magpies in our yard and always
competing against Currawongs or Kookaburras. We also didn't want to feed the
Currawongs and cause their numbers to inscrease, but if you feed the Magpies
by throwing food to them, the Currawongs will always get enough to keep them
around. We feed our Magpies on most days, but despite this, they still earn
an honest living feeding on grubs etc.

We had one last year that would walk into the house and eat off the kitchen
floor which avoided competition with other birds.

Regards,
Paul

We used to have a tame Maggie who came into our kitchen. We called him
'Audacious' - for obvious reasons. Anyway, my daughter was only new then
and she spent her days in a bouncinette. One morning, Audacious thought
he'd try the tasty 'worms' that wriggled on the ends of my baby's feet!
He was no longer welcome in the house!

The children of Audacious used to love swinging off the bottoms of the
sheets as they flapped in the breeze on the clothesline! I don't think
I've ever laughed as much as when watching those foolish magpie children
swinging upside down on the ends of my nice white sheets! They would
fall off and immediately jump up and grap hold again to catch a ride on
a flapping sheet! Hilarious! ;-D

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, Australia

Thanks everyone for the stories.

You guys are so lucky to have had these experiences with some of the creatures
that we share the planet with.

--
Ben Thomas

Oh Trish that has to be THE best laugh I've had in days because I can
just picture those babies on your sheets.

Ouch!!! for the 'worms'.....Audacious is a good name for Maggies too. I
call the cock bird 'Gorgeous' and his wife 'Mrs Gorgeous' but she is
much more timid and not quite as beautiful as he is, but then he seems
to get more tidbits for his lovely songs.

Bronwyn ;-)

Trish Brown wrote:
We used to have a tame Maggie who came into our kitchen. We called him
'Audacious' - for obvious reasons. Anyway, my daughter was only new then
and she spent her days in a bouncinette. One morning, Audacious thought
he'd try the tasty 'worms' that wriggled on the ends of my baby's feet!
He was no longer welcome in the house!

The children of Audacious used to love swinging off the bottoms of the
sheets as they flapped in the breeze on the clothesline! I don't think
I've ever laughed as much as when watching those foolish magpie children
swinging upside down on the ends of my nice white sheets! They would
fall off and immediately jump up and grap hold again to catch a ride on
a flapping sheet! Hilarious! ;-D

Ben Thomas writes:
Thanks everyone for the stories.

Hey, I haven't told you mine, yet.

On day I heard the rotary clothesline rattling and saw out of the window
a currawong struggling to get a peg off one of my socks on the line.
Eventually it succeeded, the sock fell to the grass and the bird dropped
down and picked it up and flew with it to the top of one of our tall gum
trees. After a bit of play, it let go of the sock then swooped down and
caught it midair before it reached the ground and returned to the treetop.
This game was repeated 3 or 4 times, and I felt sooner or later my sock
would be caught in a branch and abandoned high out of reach. But the
devilish bird decided to ratchet up my stress level and it took off across
suburban rooftops, disappearing from view with my sock in tow! I had no
option but to accept the loss of that sock, good quality woollen socks
not being cheap either.

But 5 or 6 minutes later the currawong had returned, and was dropping and
catching the sock again! This time I waited until the instant that it
let go of the sock and I clapped and shouted out of the window. Taken by
surprise, the startled bird was distracted and I hurried outside and was
able to retrieve my sock. The sock was none the worse for its ordeal, but
I frustrated that birdbrain's fun by securing every sock with three pegs
for the next few weeks.

You guys are so lucky to have had these experiences with some of the creatures
that we share the planet with.

I'm willing to share the planet, but I do draw the line at sharing socks.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

Oh John I can't stop laughing!!!!

Isn't it fun watching birds or animals? This morning I was watching one
of the baby Water Dragons dart around the yard catching insects and
scaling a log retaining wall at lightning speed. I was laughing out
loud then, as I am now. ROFLMHO

Thanks!!!

Bronwyn ;-)

John Savage wrote:
Ben Thomas writes:

Thanks everyone for the stories.


Hey, I haven't told you mine, yet.

On day I heard the rotary clothesline rattling and saw out of the window
a currawong struggling to get a peg off one of my socks on the line.
Eventually it succeeded, the sock fell to the grass and the bird dropped
down and picked it up and flew with it to the top of one of our tall gum
trees. After a bit of play, it let go of the sock then swooped down and
caught it midair before it reached the ground and returned to the treetop.
This game was repeated 3 or 4 times, and I felt sooner or later my sock
would be caught in a branch and abandoned high out of reach. But the
devilish bird decided to ratchet up my stress level and it took off across
suburban rooftops, disappearing from view with my sock in tow! I had no
option but to accept the loss of that sock, good quality woollen socks
not being cheap either.

But 5 or 6 minutes later the currawong had returned, and was dropping and
catching the sock again! This time I waited until the instant that it
let go of the sock and I clapped and shouted out of the window. Taken by
surprise, the startled bird was distracted and I hurried outside and was
able to retrieve my sock. The sock was none the worse for its ordeal, but
I frustrated that birdbrain's fun by securing every sock with three pegs
for the next few weeks.


You guys are so lucky to have had these experiences with some of the creatures
that we share the planet with.


I'm willing to share the planet, but I do draw the line at sharing socks.