Wednesday, January 07, 2015

The magpies are courting

...this morning. There were six magpies in the yard a short while ago, five of which were in the mountain ash on the east side of the yard, two of them perched quite close together. One of the two plucked off a berry and gently fed it to the other. Then it plucked off another and fed the other again, the recipient not begging exactly, but looking expectant. I wasn't able to get a pic, but I'll be more prepared next time if I'm lucky enough to see this happen again. I searched online and learned that this is typical pair bonding behavior. And I see that the magpie courtship dance I observed last year took place on January 16, so I guess it's time. What a lovely sight to behold on such a cold day.

2 comments:

theresa said...

The ravens are courting here, also right on time. I love their noisy rapture.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Nicely put! I do too.