Wednesday 2 April 2014

Wild Bird Wednesday 90 - A classic Australia

After a few weeks in Arizona, WBW comes back home this week.

I thought I'd go with a bit of a classic Australian this week.  I know I have posted pictures of these birds before, but I have a real fondness for them.  There seem to be a few family parties of these Black and White wonders on my route to and from work - and they are always a source of distraction.

While these birds occur over much of Australia, they are also very variable - with varying degrees of white (or black) on the back.

I'm going to leave it here for this week - but I do ask that you have a look at the new tab on the top RHS of the page.




Now it's your turn to link up to WBW - click on the link below and off you go.

Don't forget to just but a name and location in the second box on the "linkup" wizard thing!  And if it would let you link, check that you have selected an image in the lower part of the wizard!

Cheers - SM.

44 comments:

  1. i do like these beauties of yours. :)

    the link-up often defaults back to the long name of the entire post, even if you first put in your name. it is kind of a pain. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful photos of a very striking bird.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great shots! I like maggies. When I lived there, we had a lot that would come and sit on the deck railing right outside the kitchen window and squawk until I went out to feed them! I think they are a handsome bird.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stunning birds - I love the beautiful coloring.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's a sort of cross between an egret, a magpie and a blackbird!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's like a cross between a miniature stork and magpie. Would love to see this one as well:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Interesting serie!
    Great bird, a kind of crow?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I can understand why you like these...they're gorgeous!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love these guys! The plumage is so striking!

    ReplyDelete
  10. They look really striking with the black and white. From Findlay

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great photos of the magpies. I especially like their gentle warbling calls when they are sitting high in the trees.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A very nice (and different) looking bird. Nice photos Stewart...

    ReplyDelete
  13. What beautiful pictures !

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Magpies are a favorite of mine too! Your photos are wonderful! Thanks for hosting, have a happy week!

    ReplyDelete
  15. They're great shots Stewart.

    ReplyDelete
  16. the magpies are delightful --- their song is charmingly melodic and beautiful to listen to

    ReplyDelete
  17. It's been a long time since we have seen the White-backed Magpie as we only get the Black-backed Magpie here.

    ReplyDelete
  18. These are like your counterpart to our crows ... very common, but also very smart and fun to have around. They are beautiful with the mixed colors, even some white on the beak. I can understand why they distract you on your way to work ... very nice post, Stewart.

    Andrea @From The Sol

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love the 'black tie' look of these handsome fellows! :)

    Stewart, I'm pretty sure another meme I participate in uses this same form of link-up but the name isn't automatically stored and the number of characters you can use is limited. Have you checked to see if you can do that?

    ReplyDelete
  20. These are such striking birds and your shots of them are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  21. A very nice distraction indeed. I feel the same way about our Northern cardinals, they're everywhere but they're still a nice distraction esp the brilliant red males.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great capture, by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Beautiful bird! Reminds me a bit of the magpies we have here in the states.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ah nice but not real magpies..........................

    ReplyDelete
  25. Love their coloring. Nice shots!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I am late today due to a 12 hour power outage in NE Tanzania! Thanks again, Stewart for hosting this, my favorite, meme. Have a great day. Jo

    ReplyDelete
  27. I would so love to see one of these in person someday!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Stewart, heading back to RHS after my comment...these are sharp looking birds! The internet here is only 1mbs unless I want to pay a lot...so my connection is so slow...:)JP

    ReplyDelete
  29. Handsome and proud-looking birds. Thanks so much for hosting. (I went to look at your other blog and lniks yesterday and forgot to come back and comment here.)

    ReplyDelete
  30. I think they are an improvement on our UK Magpies Stewart, a bit more of an "air" about them. Thanks for your hosting skills again.

    ReplyDelete
  31. We have Magpies out here too. Well in eastern Washington not on the West side. They will not let me take a picture of them. They sense me and flit off they go. MB

    ReplyDelete
  32. Brilliant Magpie images, difference through the whole world. Top of the class in photos.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Beautiful Australian birds! Congrats on your book endeavors. Best wishes and much continued success!

    ReplyDelete
  34. We have no Magpies in our area so I appreciate your post highlighting them!

    Stewart, thank you so much for your continuing hard work to bring birders of the world together!

    All the best - Wally

    ReplyDelete
  35. Quite different from the magpies in the U.S. It almost looks like its about the size of a raven.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Magpies are such attractive birds. Beautiful shots.

    ReplyDelete
  37. what a beautiful bird. i can see why it's such a distraction to you. hope all is well. have a great day~

    ReplyDelete
  38. Wow, amazing bird and great shots!
    Best regards Stewart :-)

    ReplyDelete
  39. Magpies? I haven't seen any in Texas, but hopefully in Colorado next month. Fingers crossed for a good photo.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Lovely bird photos.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Great images! Handsome birds and if they're like magpies and crows here, very clever.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Yes, I enjoyed the wordy post! Thank you for sharing your post with Saturday's Critter party! Have a happy weekend!

    ReplyDelete