Clever Magpie!

I've just spent an hour watching the birds' breakfast bar, drinking tea and making plans for some one-handed housework (later, much later...)

First came the sparrows, of course, up to ten of them at a time vying for the four feeding positions at the seed feeders. There must be a relationship between colouring and competitiveness, as the more brightly coloured the males are the more aggressive they are at the feeders - but also it seems they more likely they are to have fledglings to feed and the more conscientiously they provide for them. As well as the sparrows there were blue tits and great tits, four of the former and two of the latter, a young blackbird who stopped for a rest with a beak full of brown slug, a brown blackbird with a bright orange beak - what sex would that be? - and a collared dove who inspected the crumb tray (empty till I get dressed) and flew off in disgust.

A magpie landed heavily on the crumb tray, scattering all the little ones. It looked carefully for crumbs, but there were none. Yesterday I watched a magpie perch on the crumb tray and try very hard to get its big beak into the peanut feeder, but today that was ignored. Something was going on, however. The hebe through which the feeder pole emerges was being given the serious cocked head and beady eye treatment. It was cautiously landed on and found to give way rather more than was comfortable. Back to the crumb tray for another think. By then I had spotted the prize - a largish lump of brown bread (in my defence, it's not easy crumbling crusts one handed) about four inches down from the top and six inches in from the side of the bush.

A second attempt, clinging on and hanging almost upside down - success! Well done, I thought. You worked hard for that bit of brekkie. It didn't take the bread away, however, but put it down on the crumb tray and tore it into smaller chunks to eat it, only leaving when it was all consumed. I am assuming that given the recent sogginess of the weather it was sufficiently moist not to require dipping in the water bowl before eating, something I have seen them do in the past.

The weather may be picking up a bit. There are some spectacular clouds but the sun is currently trying to blast a way through. Time to take Ty down to the creek, I think.