Heard while streaming 6IX Perth here in New Jersey USA, that tomorrow is ANZAC Day. Have a Good Day!

I will be attending a dawn service whilst on camp tomorrow. It will be a change from the usual routine.

Interesting that they found the Japanese "Montevideo Maru" so close to ANZAC Day.
One of Mums cousins from Beechworth and a friend were on that ship, when it was torpedoed.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-22/montevideo-maru-wwii-shipwreck-found/102255384

Listened to the Canberra Dawn Service on the radio, and after the last post, magpies started warbling. As if the native animals paying their respects too.

Used to hear them calling at dawn at Green Patch camping ground at Jervis Bay on fishing trips. No more beautiful bird call.

That's one of the things about not living in the city. The dawn magpie "galah session" and similar with the ravens, chat sessions with any others in hearing distance. Voices carry better in the cool of the morning. Currawong's are back from the mountains and get a collection of them you do not need an alarm clock.

Night its Boo Books, Possums, Bats, Frogs & loud explosions, as another Fox in the sheep gets spotted. Lots of other birds; Superb Fairy Wrens will not worry about you as they bounce off of your feet.

I have bush over the back fence and we are visited regularly by tribes of Superbs. Some hedges to hide in and other native plants, and some water for them to splash in is all is needed.

We also get Whip Birds (heard but not seen yet) and King Parrots at the right time of year, and kookaburras all year round. And if you are very lucky a female Satin Bowerbird as they fly around together in the off-season.

In the city we have the horrible Indian Myna, the Pigeon and the Starling. But there's also Noisy Miner, Magpies and Rainbow Lorikeet - and not much else. (The Indian Myna has been renamed as the Common Myna to prevent possibly offending Indians.)

In the rural setting there are Currawongs (lots of them), Magpies, Wattle Birds, Rosellas (both Eastern and the normal red varieties), Bowerbirds, Kookaburras, Cockatoos and Fairy Wrens. From time to time there can be seen Galahs, Lyrebirds, King Parrots, Wood Ducks and Kangaroos. There's a pair of Purple Swamp Hens nearby but they are not seen so often. There's other birds but I don't know their names. We used to get Wombats but I think they've all been run over by now (they have utterly no road sense at all).

As for the dawn service, I was well and truly asleep.

The Indian Myna has been renamed as the Common Myna to prevent possibly offending Indians.

Should be renamed Pestilent Myna and put on the shoot on sight list.

"Should be renamed Pestilent Myna and put on the shoot on sight list."


A flying cane toad.

My suburb backs onto bush reserve and we get everything, lately including snakes thanks to the bastard brush turkey nesting mounds everywhere. Apparently snakes love turkey eggs.

I feel like starting a campaign called 'Bring Back the Fox'. Before the council began baiting foxes we never saw a turkey here.

Completely useless birds. Here's a recipe:

Pluck turkey.
Place turkey in large pot.
Place a stone into the pot.
Fill with water.
Boil for 3 hours.
After that, toss out the turkey and eat the stone.

The native Mina is just as bad as the Indian one. There is a difficulty shooting the Indian ones here; as soon as one makes their distinctive "Chirty Chirty" noise, out goes the predator alarm & its war as every male magpie in hundreds of metres: Attacks it.

The native Mina [sic] is just as bad as the Indian one

Nope, no way. In the 'burbs the imported Indians have colonised big areas and driven out just about every other species.

I love the Magpies as they used to protect me when riding my bike to work. I would feed about 20 or 30 in my front yard with simple woolworths peanuts. The pecking order was funny to watch! In the backyard only one magpie ruled the roost and it would spend more time chasing the others away than feeding as the others would swoop in and grab its food lol. In the front yard it was a free for all lol.
One day a peewee was attacking me on the bike and a faithful magpie took him out for me.

As for Anzac Day I noticed the roads were quite and not many in attendance. A bit sad I thought.

I love the Magpies as they used to protect me when riding my bike to work

Magpies have great memories for faces (or other human features) and whether they are friend or foe. Every now and again I grab breakfast on the run from a coffee cart that sets up near a local park. As soon as I unwrap it a sizable magpie arrives and sits right in front of my face waiting for its share. I never see which tree it swoops down from. If magpies are nesting close by, be sure to become a friend asap.

Yes, a magpie's friendship can be bought by feeding it.

I haven't needed to do anything about it in the city, but the rural ones have all been done. It's easy to tell because they are happy to poke about in the backyard even while I'm there doing gardening.

When I visited Carl, a magpie followed us through a doorway into his garage and he had to ask it to leave.