Magpies

It's almost spring. The magpies are getting angry.

There is a magpie that sits on a lightpole just down the road from the office i go to most days. Last week it swooped me, but didn't hit me very hard. After that i spent some time observing it from the window at my desk, where i can get a good view of this crazed bird.

Yesterday i saw about 4 people getting swooped by the magpie. I don't want to turn this into some kind of sick spectator sport, but it is quite exciting to watch, because i can see the magpie before the innocent people walking under it can.

I told Christel about it, and she told me that there is a poem by Leunig about this kind of thing. Here is is;


Magpie magpie dive on me
swoop down from your holy tree
as i pass the flower bed
stick your beak into my head

magpie magpie make a hole
through my head into my soul.
as i pass beneath the sun
bring my troubled head undone

magpie, magpie it is spring
is my soul a happy thing?
as i pass around the tree,
make a hole so you can see.