It was a long, long, long nesting season for the magpies this year. I'm sure that they spent longer than usual building their nests ---- which they lined with coconut fibre --- from my potplants.
The parents were so diligent at keeping humans away from the nests. I tried to tell them that we intended no harm but ........ They dive bombed on people as we walked to the pool, all along our road, 150 metres and around the corner to the office, another 50 metres. They hated Steve being on his bike and attacked vigorously. He painted eyes on the back of his helmet and stuck in vertical spikes of cable tie. These proved to be too short for comfort, (for snapping beaks) so he replaced them with much longer cable ties. Still they attacked.
Then he decided to tire them out ---- when he returned from his long ride out on the open road, he circled our area of caravans, over and over, with birds swooping, until they wobbled tiredly away! When people stopped to talk to him, he told them that he was taking his bird for a walk!
Even after the 3 baby birds were flying, the parents still snapped at Steve whenever he went outside. They almost came into the annexe to get him. They never came near me!!!! One day recently, Steve stopped wearing a cap and put on a battered straw hat and the maggies kept away. Now we are leaving and their babies have left, what will they do for their daily exercise and entertainment??
You might have to look closely to see how close the parent gets to Steve.
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