The Battle for Winter Food is On!
First, a solitary red-breasted scoutThen a troop of ravenous starlingsA pair of policing magpies see them offAnd bringing up the rearThe Goldfinch light brigade.
Blimey if I get any more I will have to go back to work LOL
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
Great description, WREN, of the annual battle for survival in ordinary gardens everywhere.
Congratulations Wren. I like your poem. I like the approach of the "policing magpies" as Magpies are usually portrayed as thievish, although I personally never had anything stolen from a Magpie. The Magpie couple who come into the back garden to eat bird food that I leave for them in a plate near my basement door here where I rent at the back of a house have pretty dark blue or royal blue coloured wings mixed with their classical black and white feathers.
I have a pair of funny magpies that visit the shed roof rarely the birdfeeders, recently a pigeon with limp started feeding on shed roof, the magpies appear, pigeon seems wary carries on feeding as far away as it can, then suddenly one of the magpies grabs the tail feathers and tries to haul him off the roof, so far it has failed, the pigeon does not leave but does a face to face till the magpies have eaten enough and leave, its happened quite a few times pigeon keeps coming back, i wondered if this is normal behaviour for magpies ?
thanks
i love this!