ALONE ON A WINDY RIDGE: The magpies are courting

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.; 7/1/15 7:02 PM
Brenda Schmidt said...: Nicely put! I do too.; 7/1/15 8:11 PM

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"This is a skilled poet having good fun, and inviting us all to join the party." - Shelley A. Leedahl, SaskBooks Reviews. Read more.

"Employing a variety of forms and the culvert stories — who knew? — of numerous people, she digs beneath the obvious roads to find out what keeps the water — the subconscious, the unconscious — flowing smoothly, discovering a variety of things about herself, notably the everyday masks we wear and the aging process we won’t always admit to." - Bill Robertson, The Star Phoenix. Read more.

"For Schmidt is indeed a poet. Readers can expect to encounter many visual and acoustic delights along the way, from internal rhymes to arresting images." - Trevor Cook, The Antigonish Review #196.

"In Grid..., Creighton's Brenda Schmidt turns a colder eye to the landscape than most other Canadian poets." - Jonathan Ball, Winnipeg Free Press. Read more.

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"In her fourth collection Grid, Schmidt’s wry humour transcends what we have watched heap up in Canada for more than a century—nature poems—balancing in canola fields between the beautiful lure of nature and our curious urge to separate ourselves from disappearing allotments of our own solace. We have wandered “off the grid” but fortunately Schmidt is an entertaining and insightful guide who can still find Li Po in a Dark-eyed Junco, if she has to." - Garry Thomas Morse, Jacket 2. Read more.

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