Sing us a song

I thought we could take a break from our regular plant-based story to ponder the wonders of songbirds - specifically the Australian Magpie and Grey Butcherbird. We are lucky enough to live near a creek and the creek beds are planted with lots of vegetation (some of it weeds!) and lots of tall gums. Every morning we wake (or roll over and fall back asleep) to the beautiful songs of maggies and butcherbirds. Whilst they aren’t everyone’s favourite birds - because they can be quite defensive of their territory during nesting season - they really are marvelous avian friends and if you get to know them, you can enjoy their delightful melodies and they won’t cause you any grief!

Songbirds are of the order Passeriformes, of which both the Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibice)and Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) are members. So are crows though (both the Australian Raven - Corvus coronoides, and the Torresian Crow - Corvus orru), and they are anything but lyrical so I’m not entirely sure of the definition of ‘song’….

But back to my morning serenaders. Whilst maggies especially have inspired many a backwards cap adorned with googly eyes, and helmets decorated with cable ties, they really can be quite friendly and have the ability to recognise you. I see this as a wonderful thing, because I have made friends with my maggies, and they know I’m no harm. Seen from the other angle, apparently they also use their powers of recognition to target specific people - so best to do all you can to make friends with those in your area!

Butcherbirds are also prone to attacking to protect their young, but again they recognise you. Our local cutie happily wanders into the next door neighbours house to mop up the mess of her 3 year old and would eat from their hand. I often have him/her sitting on my deck warbling away for lengths of time, and they are quite happy for me to creep out and listen to them.

The presence of both magpies and butcherbirds in your garden is great sign of biodiversity. They are both meat eaters and will feed on lizards, insects and grubs. Magpies love eating lawn grubs (bonus if you want to keep a greener lawn!) and butcherbirds will attack small rodents as well. Word of warning - they do also like small chicks and we had to keep our little girls well covered for their first few months!

To attract birds to your garden, keep up the biodiversity and put out a birdbath. One of my birdbaths is right outside the front window, and I can often hear the splashing from inside and take a peak at them doing their thing. It really does add life to the garden and a wonderful musical backdrop.

Cinnamon

Caladiums