Hello everyone,
I find I am rarely troubled by swooping magpies when riding my bike around
the cycle paths of Canberra. My black and white border collie, Flossie,
interacts freely with them, chasing, barking, and generally putting them on
notice. The net effect of this is that they ignore me on the bike nearly
100 percent of the time. They do however swoop Flossie a lot, and she
enjoys the chase, when she notices them.
On another black and white note...
Last summer Flossie and I were by Lake Ginninderra when a pair of Willie
Wagtails were giving three fledglings early flying lessons. The adult pair
gave Flossie a hell of a shellacking, with incessant scolding, swooping and
hovering. It seemed to me that the two WWs were concentrating on the large
white patch on Flossie's neck and shoulders. They hovered very close behind
her head. This continued, for several minutes, until for want of some form
of peaceful settlement, Flossie and I discreetly withdrew. I came to the
conclusion that the WWs thought Flossie was some huge lumbering landbound
Currawong.
What do people think?
__________________________________________________________
Paul Fennell
Telephone 06 205 9401 (w) 06 254 1804 (h) Fax 06 205 9226
Keep on saving the planet!!
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