Ron's blog

I told you about the male magpie Richie, who has been wooing Vicky since Maggie's passing. Well Tuesday morning, four birds (instead of three) landed to say hello to us. Vicky and her adult kids Mindy and Monty were there, as was a large handsome male magpie, all four loudly carolling out their territorial ownership. Who was the new male magpie?

Vicky's suitor, whom we are calling Ritchie, suffered the embarrassments I told you about last time, but it seems he hasn't been entirely crushed by it all. He's back again now trying his best to woo and win Vicky's heart.

Last week there was a new, nervous young male magpie paying us a visit. He was doing his best to show us he was brave and intelligent, and he came right up to our glass back door, and when we went outside, he would hold his ground and try to show how he was not going to be frightened, but equally he wanted to say hello and get to know the humans.

We've been worried about Maggie's widow Vicky, and whether she is going to find a new mate, so Saturday morning when she came to say hello, I had a long chat with her. The way this works is, you just talk, expressing all the things on your mind. She can't understand human words, of course, but if you talk long enough, she will follow your body language and get the drift.

So I talked: "We can't understand what is happening Vicky? Are you looking for a new mate? You have to show us, because we humans are really very stupid."