Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen), part thereof.
Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen), part thereof.
Alas, on this occasion there were more parts thereof. Except for the main part. Something must’ve eaten it, but we don’t know what. These and a few smaller feathers are all that remains.
Meanwhile, these feathers will soon become a cat toy.
DEAD BIRD UPDATE: We are idiots. These are not magpie feathers, but tail feathers of the pied currawong (Strepera graculina). And @Ng88Mr, you have tail feathers of a glossy black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami). I wonder what happened to the birds.
@Ng88Mr We’re starting to speculate about something pouncing on them (hawk? owl? quoll?) and managing to grab only the tail feathers, ripping them out. One of the currawong feathers has a distinct slashing cut across it.
In any event I am highly embarrassed to have agreed to the idea that the were magpie feathers. Magpie tails are white with black tips. Currawong tails are, as shown, roughly the other way around.
The bird may not be dead, of course. We have seen no body. Just this clump of tail feathers.
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When it came time to do a weather forecast, I had no idea what it was. So I plugged the mic onto a 50m cable and walked out to where I had a view of the sky in all directions. I told the listeners I’d grown up on a farm so here’s what I reckon. I was pretty close, it turned out.
Meanwhile, a listener figured out where we must be, made a thermos of tea and grabbed a packet of biscuits, and drove out into the swamp to bring us a cuppa. She’d figured that our tower must be the one with the station wagon parked next to it, and obviously she was right.
Anyway, it only took a few hours for Telecom Australia to repair the cable, and I seem to remember it wasn’t too dark by the time we finished. With no mobile phone, I think we had to say it was fixed by saying it on air. “And now back to the studio” then moving the patch cable.
It begins in the 1980s, ’cos I’m getting old. I started at community station 5UV, now Radio Adelaide. Over a couple of years I learned how to do pretty much everything. I produced and presented a lot of different things, but started with classical music. radioadelaide.org.au
“KPMG’s UK chair, Bill Michael, has resigned after telling staff to ‘stop moaning’ during a virtual meeting about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, where he also called unconscious bias ‘crap’.” theguardian.com/business/2021/…
“The 52yo Australian, who told staff to ‘stop playing the victim card’ and described the concept of unconscious bias as being ‘complete and utter crap for years’, apologised and said the scandal over his comments had made his position at the accounting giant ‘untenable’.”
He sounds nice.
Also, it’s the “scandal” that made his position untenable, not the comments. Yes of course, Bill. Arsehole.
Sorry, young ladies, you and your families have already eaten all of today’s treats outside.
You can tell they’re females because the patch on the back of the neck is grey rather than pure white.* Also the males are a glossier black, though you may need to see them together to notice.
* At least for the “race” (sub-species) Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen.
She’s discovering that since I vacuumed the floor there isn’t any spillage of the seeds to nibble on, though she did find a dead cricket.
(Anyone making a joke about me spilling my seed on the floor will be blocked and reported.)
EXACTLY ONE WEEK TO GO: Want more special episodes of “The 9pm Edict” podcast? Please consider supporting The 9pm Autumn Series. Details at the9pmedict.com/autumn20921. You have until 9pm AEDT on Thu 18 Feb.
We’re currently 48% of the way to Target One. Thank you.
49% now, though I’m not sure about the leaf thing.