More Magpies

All is not well in Waterline Crescent Park. One of the bottle trees – the one housing the Magpie nests – has lost most of its leaves. I await a Council arborealist's diagnosis of the problem. The upside is that we are privileged to see much of what goes on in nest number two.

And there is much to report since the middle of October. Mrs Magpie was indeed sitting on eggs and at least some survived the big storm. Two hatched, and the chicks are now almost adult-sized. There's a lot a flapping but no take-off as yet. And they do a lot of grooming.

The Original Chick (OC) is still on the scene. She continues to demand food although she is perfectly capable of foraging for herself...

...and noisily follows her da around, looking bereft when he strides off, having other matters to attend to.

The OC also sits opportunistically by the new nest (on the left, below).

But her persistence pays off. Mrs M passes her the odd morsel while attending to the two newbies (below – Mrs M to the left). Is this conclusive proof therefore that Mrs M is the original? The Newbies can't be far off fledging. In the meantime, they spend a lot of time sitting and surveying, rather exposed in their denuded bottle tree.