Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Bird Whisperer

Who is that crazy guy talking to birds? Me. I love birdwatching. It's something I started doing a while back, but it really took hold during covid, and really came to fruit at the last house we lived in. We had a greenway park with a paved walking/riding trail behind the back fence so a lot of avian life would drop in.

I seem to have a way with birds. Muffin here, an Australian Magpie, decided I was ok, and after a few months of socialising, she decided it was safe to hop on my arm from the windowsill when I came out the door.

Sadly, I moved away in early 2023, and now at our current house, I have a clan of Ravens who have adopted me. Feel free to ask me about birds ... the birds I know or have known, and how I seem to manage to become friends with them. I have plenty of pictures to share. This one is 'Maw'.

Can we see a collection of all your favorite bird friends? Which bird friend has made you laugh the most?

I second Sanne! I want to see your collection of your favorite birds! lol

So my question is, what kind of birds do you actually prefer to be friends? Those bigger ones or smaller ones? Do you have small birdies too?

I do have a collection. I'll share some favourite moments. The bird friends that are most amusing are the fledglings and younger males. I love watching the interaction between siblings, and with the parents. At my old house, the star entertainer was a young male we named 'Bubba' because he was big. He was bigger-boned than both his parents, and he was both a bit of a klutz, and a clown. In his first days visiting, he was still in the flight-training stage, and 'Terry' (dad) showed him how to fly a semicircle from the top of our fence up to their nest high in a gum tree.

The idea was to do an arc and gain elevation as you flew. Bubba took off to copy dad, but didn't quite get the altitude needed and he went crashing into a hedge. He quickly learned the skill, and also discovered that crashing into bushes and trees disturbs a lot of spiders and bugs, and so he started doing it on purpose to shake them out and get easy meals.

Here is the Magpie clan that adopted us when we lived in our old house. They were singing a quartet here.


From left to right: Kylie (mom, she has a malformed right foot as her two side talons stick out 90° from the middle talon and didn't move), The aforementioned Bubba, a recent fledgling and Muffin's younger brother (I guessed Muffin was from the previous breeding season's clutch), the aforementioned Muffin, and the resident old male and Kylie's husband Terry. Terry was the most wary of the bunch and he didn't like ravens flying down the greenway through 'his airspace'. They would dogfight some at times.


Word in bird-world gets around when a 'safe-house' is identified, I think. One day, this ornery band of troublemakers (Cockatoos) decided to drop in and see what the magpies excitement was about. Being herbavores, they didn't care for the menu. They did behave themselves this day and decided not to dismantle the house. The ringleader is looking over the gutter at me while its friends are just having a chatty good time.




This King Parrot would drop in once every month or so. He just decided to come have a sit while its mate lingered in the tree. We had some overripe strawberries, and he loved them. Even got his wife to come to the rail for one. The females are various shades of green.




At our current house, a raven clan has decided we're acceptable tenants of 'their' house. The one who most interacts with me is the aforementioned 'Maw'.



Here you can see his damaged leg from his run-in with a dog. He's quite adept at getting around with it, and definitely has a 'pirate-walk'. He is quite the 'star' for the camera. His mate Crowley is a bit more camera shy.




↑ This picture is from yesterday. It stars Maw (in the middle looking disgruntled) and he and Crowley's two fledglings who we named 'Aud' and 'Ghost' due to their personalities. 'Ghost' is being not-shy here as it walks toward my office window. 'Aud is by Maw in the bush and was squawking at Maw for food. Dad had to 'parent' Aud and jumped up and 'rolled' Aud telling it to take a nap. Kids...


As far as smaller birds, we have Rainbow Lorikeets that flock to our Cypress trees twice a day, and a pair of Red Wattle birds are nesting in one of our front Cypress trees. They and the ravens don't get along too well. We also have a flock of New Holland Honeyeaters that love mobbing the water bowl in the evenings. I have pics of them on my phone I need to upload to Imgur. A sparrow family came to the back yard the other day. Dad, mom, and three fledglings on their maiden flight. They had a good forage, but my old cat went outside then they had to scatter. We do have a lot of smaller birds, but they tend to be aloof.

I don't have a question, this is just adorable.

The ravens are fun and quite intelligent. None were more intelligent than Muffin the Magpie. When the family came over with her and i came out with treats (dry cat food. Vet said it was good for them), she would get on my arm and supervise. Not only did she count how many pieces of food I had in my hand; there was a certain order I was supposed to feed them. Terry, then Kylie, then her, then Bubba. Sometimes she would go first. No matter, Bubba was supposed to be last. If he stole a piece meant for Terry or Kylie, she would get cranky.

Today I was out in the back yard cutting down a dead Privet tree, and when I was done, Crowley came in and gave the area a thorough inspection. it met with her approval as it gave them a new thruway among the trees.

↓ Here is a picture of the various things the ravens have brought us over the year. Various rocks, some sticks because they think we need help building a nest, a ball bearing, a broken nail, and an iridescent tile. Not shown is a pair of children's safety scissors, a kid's toy airplane, and various other screws.



↓ Today, Crowley was being settled and chilling with me while Maw was off flying with the kids.

Do you own any species of Parrots? Oh wait, you do, nvm. lol

This is beautiful! I'm similar with other animals

I heard that befriending wild animals could be harmful for them, since they may trust the wrong human...
But corvids are different, I know that many of them can recognize human faces, and either give "thank-you" gifts to humans after receiving help from them, or poop on and/or scratch the ones who wronged them, sometimes even ganging up for that, hehe. (good. That's what mean humans should always get)
Is this applicable here? Do they know that you are personally OK, but don't get too close to unknown humans?

Also... I hope Muffin isn't sad that her human friend disappeared suddenly...

No, I don't own any birds. All these friends of mine are wild birds.


Corvids are quite intelligent, and in the case of the magpie family, the older parent Terry and Kylie were careful not to allow the younger birds to become dependent. I did worry about the youngster Bubba as he would come to the rail and had a very human-sounding call that sounded like a rough 'hello'. But he weaned himself more as he grew into his feathers.

Here with the ravens, both Maw and Crowley are regulating their visits. Also, the key is to never give them too much. Only a few treats per bird, and I have a hand signal to let them know there is no more. I brush my hands together and then show them they are empty, and they turn and start wandering around foraging.

Australian Magpies get a bad rap for being overly aggressive. They can be in nesting season, and for some reason they tend to see bicyclists as threats and will swoop riders. I blame the helmets and spandex shorts along with moving at speed for it. They aren't seen as 'human' in the birds-eye. It's almost like dogs chasing cars. If they can see you and you talk to them, they will see you are no threat and will ignore you after making note of the face.

We have been noted as friends, and it has been communicated to the wider clan/murder. When walking, other ravens will know we are ok, and the next person they need to be more wary of.

Muffin saw that we were moving when we were packing up, and other people would come to the house for property and prospective tenant inspection. Fortunately they 'owned' other people along the greenway so wasn't too upset. Several months later, an online delivery routed to the old address and we went to pick it up, and Muffin recognized us and said hello from a distance.


↓The ultimate trust is relaxing while I'm out in the back yard. This is Crowley taking a nap in the sun. I think she was catching a snooze while the kids played in the yard. She was like this for about ten minutes.



I've even been trusted to babysit on occasion. Maw and Crowley get the kids in the yard and while they are foraging they sneak off. Not far usually, but they are trusting me with the kids.