Magpies are a common sighting up here. I had never seen one before coming up here, and on first seeing them thought they were quite beautiful with their long tails and striking colouring. They are still beautiful to me, but they are rascals... comparable to the blue Stellar's Jay and Crows for their naughtiness.
One thing I learned about magpies from my neighbour is that they often raid the nests of other birds, not the nicest thing to learn, so I kept that little nugget of info from Maria, who is somewhat sensitive about things like that. Maria has been fascinated by them and frequently has tried to get closer to one, but has never had any luck. Until recently.
The other day Maria was trying to tell me about her day and it was obvious something was bothering her. So I am trying to listen through her words to hear what is wrong. She and her friend were playing in the front yard and saw a Magpie nearby so the two girls snuck closer and closer. The magpie flew a little further away and still the girls snuck closer, eventually the bird gave up and flew away and it was at this point the girls reached the spot where the bird had been standing. There on the grass was a set of bird legs.
So Maria is telling me this and saying how bad she feels. I am trying to re-assure her that in nature things like this happen... and before I get much further than that she asks "but how will it land?" At which point I realize she thinks her friend and her scared "the legs" OFF the magpie. After I finished giggling and explaining that no, the magpie still has its own legs those were the legs of another bird, Maria giggled too and was much happier with the knowledge of canibalistic birds than birds with detachable legs...
I am still giggling though.
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