Vicky Magpie's family doing well

Vicky Magpie and the family have stayed together since Maggie's passing, and they are doing well in getting their act together for the new season.

Vicky has changed her appearance quite dramatically. It almost gives the appearance that she has tried to get rid of her 'middle-age spread' and put on an attractive show - presumably in case there are any eligible males out there that she might take a fancy to. Mindy and Monty have become very beautiful adults, and young Georgie is doing fine.

When Maggie fell ill, Billie magpie, whose territory is on the other side of our house, misbehaved and tried to intimidate Vickie and her family, so we had to stop feeding Billie's gang and send them packing when they tried encroaching. But one of Billie and Polly's chicks this last year, Freda, was having none of that. Freda is the most human-friendly bird you would ever expect to find in a country area (where magpies are much more timid than in the city). When I chased away Freda's family, Freda herself would just stand next to me and watch. Once she walked around the yard with me as I carted water for the various bird water bowls. Yesterday she was eating with Vicky's family. Monty chased her a few times, but she just doesn't take a hint! It's a lot like the way Billie himself was as a greedy youngster, but Freda has a lot more personality and winning ways, whereas young Billy thought only of food. We'll have to see how the Freda story develops. Will she change groups?

Also the past few weeks one of "our" currawongs has been back in the district. We get currawongs all year, but they are migratory and only some of them know us and feel confident to come close, so we usually go the entire end of year time without seeing many currawongs - but in breeding season all our friends have usually returned.