The magpie's song

NOT REAL FOOD - MORE FOOD FOR THE SOUL

"But not one man that I have heard throws back his head in such a song of grace and praise — no man nor bird. Their greed is brief; their joy is long. For each is born with such a throat as thanks his God with every note."

Judith Wright

It's been a very wet week, but through it all the magpies have sung and talked their little hearts out. It is one of the most beautiful sounds in the Australian bush I think - click here for a video that shows one singing. Liquid and carolling are the words that spring to mind. it is truly food for the soul.

I believe the magpie's song is the longest and most complicated in the world - I vaguely remember hearing this on the radio sometime ago, but a quick search does not confirm this - just - 'one of the most complex'. Apparently a song can last for over an hour. The other day I was sitting down having my lunch and a magpie was singing away outside. You would swear that it was talking, because it doesn't seem to be at all receptive - not just a few sounds repeated over and over.

Other things about magpies. They can be aggressive, particularly in the breeding season and swoop at people, sometimes actually attacking them. We don't have any like that here, though our neighbour says that they currently have one. I also heard that they can recognise around 15 different people and don't attack the ones they know. As well as their own very complex songs they can also mimic other birds, even people. They are comparatively easily tamed. After the kookaburra they are the first to sing in the morning. They look after their baby (they only seem to have one) for a very long time. The baby - as big as them - follows the parents around and squawks at them all the time for food, making little effort to feed itself. The Australian magpie is not the same bird as the English one - it was called a magpie because of its colouring. They are quite large and very common here. A very Australian icon. The Collingwood football team are called the Magpies. And that's all I know about them.

So nothing to do with food - and as far as I know nobody eats them. Which is curious as they are quite large and people eat birds as small as thrushes elsewhere. Here we seem to restrict our bird eating to chicken, turkey and duck with the occasional goose. Birds that are called poultry when we eat them. I don't think we even eat pigeons. Maybe they don't taste very nice.

But I do love magpies and they do soothe my soul when they sing.