As a country child, I walked and jogged six kilometres to school. The paddocks were cleared, with a great avenue of trees along the road where 32 magpies nested and used me as target practice, so I sewed a piece of wire into my bush-hat like a small aerial and tied coloured ribbons to the top as the ‘magpie-target’. Later when I found enough pieces, I built a bike and clamped an old car aerial to the frame, with a little Aussie flag on top as the target, with no harm to me or the ‘magenpies’, eventfully they got used to me. Magpies have to be vigilant against predators or they would die out. The small inconvenience for the benefits of insect control and their beautiful songs is a worthy trade-off; a piece of stick with ribbons, or an umbrella work fine, particularly if you suddenly let the umbrella pop-up just as he nears the target; his air-brakes and reverse-gear fail and you might have to clean the poop of the brolly.
Gil May,
Tyalgum
