The Magpies by Dennis Glover

When Tom and Elizabeth took the farm
The bracken made their bed
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Tom’s hand was strong to the plough
and Elizabeth’s lips were red
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Year in year out they worked
while the pines grew overhead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

But all the beautiful crops soon went
to the mortgage man instead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Elizabeth is dead now (it’s long ago)
Old Tom’s gone light in the head
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

The farms still there. Mortgage corporations
couldn’t give it away
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies say.

The first magpies were introduced into New Zealand in the 1860’s. They were brought from  Victoria and Tasmania in an attempt to control insect pests on cleared land, mostly in Otago and Canterbury in the South Island and Wellington, Hawkes Bay and Auckland areas in the North Island. These first populations remained isolated for many years with the Otago magpie disappearing completely. Nowadays magpies can be seen everywhere except in dense forest areas like Fiordland and in dry open country like Central Otago.

There were two species of magpie released – the white-backed magpie and the less common black-backed sub-species. These species interbreed producing birds with differing amounts of black on their backs. In New Zealand, excluding humans, adult birds have no natural predators. They are bold and will threaten birds much bigger that them.

Magpies like to nest in tall trees, old pine trees, macrocarpa or gum trees. The female builds the nest  and the male can be aggressive, swooping on anything which comes within to their nesting territory. They don’t hop but walk or run along the ground to hunt for insects, grubs and beetles.

Like owls, magpies turn the hard, indigestible bits of their food into pellets of poo.

I spend many minutes watching a young magpie playing with twigs, fallen leaves and objects in a city park. The young bird was quite unafraid as I stood within a couple of metres and pointed my camera at him. He spent a lot of time picking things up in his beak or right foot, moving them to different spots, dropping them and picking up again.

Magpie websites

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