lirralirra

Australian Magpies, like this juvenile, are arguably the quintessential Aussie birds. They’re such comical, melodic characters.

From the scruffy look of the juvenile it would be less than three months old. When they’re this young I can’t tell whether they are male or female. As adults the males have bright white backs while the females’ backs are grey – they have their adult plumage by the age of two or three. This bird was crazily noisy (typical of young magpies), striding around the garden after its parents, loudly demanding to be fed. It was moving so fast that bits of soil and seeds can be seen floating about in the photograph.

In the shot above I think it looks as though its wearing some kind of frilly frock with a pair of feathery bloomers.

Australian Magpies are found across the country apart from the western coast of Tasmania and some inland desert areas. There are three subspecies, white-backed (like today’s juvenile), black-backed and scaly-backed.

I love waking up to the warbling melodies of magpies, and watching them always makes me smile. Yesterday’s chuckle was watching one tugging at a worm when a rabbit bounded past – the magpie got itself in a surprisingly comical flap.

Happy birding, Kim

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography