WingedHearts.org More love than you thought possible

Butch, our 'first' pied butcherbird, who made friends with Gitie way back when Maggie was missing, and Gitie and I didn't know if he was alive or dead, and who cheered us up while we searched for Maggie, is ill. The last few days we've seen his eyes 'crust' up, and seeing is becoming progressively harder for him. We have been giving him bread soaked in antibiotics in the hope that it can help. Without catching him, there is nothing else we can do.  read more »

We've had a very interesting week watching (and participating) in the relationships amongst our butcherbirds. On the back side of the house we have our original pied butcherbird family, Butch and Cass and two of their adult children. Along the road is a new pied butcherbird group of five or six, two of whom are two older kids of Butch and Cass, namely Teddy and Tommy, who, I am quite convinced once saved Gitie's life by warning her of a nearby highly venomous snake, and chasing it out of our yard.  read more »

We are not sure what to think about our baby pied butcherbird, Chuckie.  read more »

Just to let you know about recent happenings with Maggie and Co, it's that time of year when the birds arrange their territories for the next twelve months. Not much action with our birds this year though (not yet, anyway). I got a clue that the Mags gang and Larry (grey butcherbird) gang have settled their quarrel. Last week, when I went up to the gate to call Larry, he and Maggie flew in side-by-side, then Maggie landed and Larry went to his nearby tree. But it was a definite signal to me that they are on amicable terms again.  read more »

Butch and Cass the pied-butcherbirds have had a better year too.  Chucky is the newest addition to their fold.  Butch and Cass took a leaf out of Maggie's book and have let two year old Dimpy stay on for another year.  They reckon they need the extra pair of eyes (or rather wings) to help them mind their super energetic kids.  Kerry too is enjoying the company having an older and younger sibling around.  Chucky has a beautiful singing voice - really fine and mellow  - quite unusual as he is just a very young chick.   read more »

Magnificent songsters, Pied-butcherbirds are common through most of Australia.  Butch and Cass came into our yard by invitation in June 2002. Little did we know of the joys and rewards that followed, when when their kids began appearing the following year.   read more »

The birds love having a few short naps during the day.  We call them 'trancing' because they look like they have gone into a trance.  In this slideshow we catch Dimpy the pied-butcherbird go off into a trance with Renuthri his Noisy-miner friend and other noisy-miner cousins keeping watch around him.  read more »

Baby Kerry like all his siblings before him loved having a bath from the first time he visited us.  On the day of these slides, he was preening himself after a first dip by the time we got out with the camera. He looked so cute and fluffy as he preened himself that we couldn't resist taking a few shots and then much to our delight he obliged us by taking a second dip.  Little Chipkin too enjoyed the fun watching from below.  read more »

The magpies, currawongs, butcherbirds, noisy-miners - they are all friends and interact daily in many ways. They play with each other, negotiate with each other, tease each other and help each other.  This slideshow tells a really cute story that we have seen played out in many variations.  read more »