Song of the Magpie
This morning, for the last few hours, I’ve had a magpie sitting in the drizzly damp outside my window, singing its little heart out. I love the sound. It’s so joyful and melodious. You can listen to a magpie singing here. You probably need to put up with an advert at the start, but this is similar to what I’m hearing.
If you can’t access the video of the magpie singing, click here:
I always feel a maggie singing in the morning is a good omen for the day.
Australian magpies are quite different to the European ones — I think the early colonizers called them magpies because they were black and white, like British magpies. This photo is by Jack McCracken on Unsplash
Do you have a favorite birdsong?
Love Magpie music
Beautiful. I love meadowlarks and red-winged blackbirds. I have the Cardinal memorized because I have one in my backyard, declaiming his territory.
Thanks, Linnea, the various bird sounds and birdsongs that we hear are quite special, aren’t they. I love the idea of your own ruling Cardinal singing to assert his territory.
The magpie has a beautiful song. There is a family outside my house, they have a baby every year (I think). Hard to keep track. But they never swoop, although I’ve seen them swoop bike riders. I do love the laugh of the kookaburra. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jW7A2glZbk
Thanks for sharing that, Malvina. I have a friend who gets a lot of magpies in her back yard. They have babies every year and bring them around, and now I think most of her maggies are an extended family of her first two. Thanks for the sound of the kookaburra. They’re some of my favorite birds.
Lovely to hear the Australian magpie. They are not eastern USA birds but out west they have them – not as nice a song though. My favorite songbird here is the Northern Mockingbird. They can change their song by listening to local sounds so they vary in different parts of the USA. Sadly when I moved to the north central states I miss them as there are none here.
I have listened to many colorful bird calls and songs via recordings and so many lovely songs are out in the world sung by the birds.
Thanks, Margot. I’m so grateful for the people who take the trouble to record and share various bird songs. Interesting that the Northern Mockingbird ‘s song varies with the territory. We have a bird here, a lyrebird who could also be called a liar-bird, because they imitate all kinds of noises — other birds, chainsaws, sirens — it’s extraordinary. There’s a clip here from David Attenborough the gives a wonderful demonstration of their amazing ability.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y
I love wrens. I think they are actually called the Carolina wren. They are small, plump, brown, and have the most beautiful voices, like divas doing their best soprano aria. They don’t migrate so we have them around all year. They don’t seem to be very intelligent (sorry) because they build very poor nests that fall aart easily. My husband felt sorry for them so he put little baskets up in the eaves of the porch, and they happily moved right in.
Jeanette, I love wrens too. We have one kind called the Superb Fairy Wren, which is tiny and dainty, and the males have blue caps. They’re very sweet. You can see them here: https://ebird.org/species/supfai1?siteLanguage=en_AU