{"id":541,"date":"2016-09-02T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T02:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?p=541"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:32:15","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:32:15","slug":"here-comes-spring-with-terror-on-wings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/09\/here-comes-spring-with-terror-on-wings.html","title":{"rendered":"Here Comes Spring with Terror on Wings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The magpie is perhaps my favourite bird, alongside the usual ravens and crows.\u00a0 Australian Magpies are different to those magpies of most other countries.\u00a0 The non-Aussie magpie is part of the corvidae family and are related to crows.\u00a0 The Aussie magpie however is not a corvid, it is of the artamidae family and is a Cracticus tibicen<\/em>, and thus\u00a0is a type of butcherbird.<\/p>\n

Magpies are medium sized birds, a touch smaller than the average crow and generally sleeker \u2013 not so chunky as it were.\u00a0 They are black and white and have long legs and enjoy walking and even running around.\u00a0 They often live in a group or tribe of ten or so birds, though some are single mating pairs \u2013 other unattached birds sometimes group together in the hundreds! They have the most beautiful song call, especially sung in the mornings and evenings and often sung in groups making it one of our more distinctive animal calls.\u00a0 They are also good at mimicry and apparently can mimic over 35 species of birds, as well as other animals like horses and cats! [1]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The
Tree image \u2013 public domain via pixabay. \u00a0Magpie image \u2013 I, BenAveling<\/a> [GFDL<\/a>, CC-BY-SA-3.0<\/a> or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0<\/a>], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>Other than their distinctive song, magpies are perhaps best known for one thing \u2013 swooping.\u00a0 In spring, when the females are nesting, the males will become territorial and protective and some will begin to swoop people and vehicles.\u00a0 Swooping is a simple thing, the magpie dive bombs out of the air and attempts to tear your head open with its beak.\u00a0 When they succeed, blood flows, as does pain and loud screaming.\u00a0 They are not in any way gentle in their attacks.<\/p>\n

There is a distinctive sound their wings make when they swoop, but they do it at other times too, like when playing with each other.\u00a0 I think it is ingrained in Aussies that when we hear that sound, our hands cover our heads, we duck down and die a little bit inside.\u00a0 Some of us may just collapse to the ground and give up on life right there.\u00a0 Terror of the skies, this is serious business.<\/p>\n

The fear of them is never far from our minds, especially in spring.\u00a0 Even now, walking through areas I know have non-swooping magpies during spring, I am wary and await my doom.\u00a0 And yet I have not been swooped in, I don\u2019t even know, 7 or more years maybe.\u00a0 People love to talk about how scary Australia is with its abundance of spiders and snakes and dropbears.\u00a0 But no one ever talks about the magpies.\u00a0 But they should.\u00a0 When an animal is so frightening that the fear has become part of our genetic makeup, you know it\u2019s serious.<\/p>\n

So why would the magpie be my favourite bird?\u00a0 Firstly, not all magpies attack, not even males with nesting mates.\u00a0 For the most part, I have noted that the most aggressive of magpies are those that have suffered trauma from people throwing rocks and sticks at them and their nests.\u00a0 They are vindictive, and some are overly protective, but mostly they aren\u2019t so bad even during swooping season. And outside of the swooping, they are the most friendly, amusing, curious, playful and cheeky birds.\u00a0 They are truly amazing.<\/p>\n

I have had magpies protect me and my then baby son from a pack of ravening seagulls.\u00a0 I have had a young magpie run at me screaming because it wanted my chips (fries), it wasn\u2019t attacking, it was telling me it was hungry (but it probably wasn\u2019t that hungry, babies always exaggerate their hunger).\u00a0 I have had a magpie play peekaboo with me by hiding behind the bole of a tree and popping out at me, repeatedly \u2013 every time I walked by its tree.<\/p>\n

\"Magpie\"
Magpie, wondering what the crazy woman is doing hanging over the fence staring at it. Photo by Bekah Evie Bel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In some Aboriginal Dreaming stories, such as in the Noongar tribe, magpies are said to be the ones responsible for the very first sunrise. \u00a0At a time the sky and the ground were basically touching, people and animals had to crawl and the birds couldn\u2019t fly. The magpies gathered sticks and using these they pushed the sky high up and away from the ground. \u00a0Soon the sky reached the point where it should be, it cracked open and the sun suddenly popped out, bringing with it the first dawn. \u00a0All thanks to the ever clever and industrious magpies. [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In other Aboriginal lores the magpie is considered a gossip, chattering and singing all the latest gossip in the morning and never stopping until they find new things to gossip about [3]<\/a>. \u00a0They are also the indicator for dawn, their songs welcoming the sun each morning \u2013 though personally I note they also farewell the sun in the evenings.<\/p>\n

You might note that I speak of balance a lot on this blog, it\u2019s an obsession of mine and I am attracted to things that represent balance to me. \u00a0Magpies happen to be one of those things that I see as balance \u2013 in certain areas they represent two sides, sometimes even the extreme sides. \u00a0Black and White,\u00a0Aggressiveness and Friendliness,\u00a0Dawn and Dusk,\u00a0Danger and Safety (they might attack you or protect you).<\/p>\n

There is a lot more I\u00a0could say about magpies, but I think I\u2019ll wind it down now. \u00a0Here are some of the things that I personally feel magpies are representative of (things that may be relevant in Paganism), based on my own observations and on the lore.<\/p>\n