19 years ago, when we moved in here, the place had been empty for about 18 months, & the wildlife had taken over.

The first we knew of our magpies was when out 6 year old son came running in, a few weeks later, trying to escape a diving bird. I do suspect he may have done something to cause his own discomfort with this bird.

Now not being one to accept the dictates of authority all that well, I would have eliminated this bird, if necessary, but fortunately it did not prove so.

First my son accepted that there was no problem if he ignored the bird, & then the birds discovered they liked the dry cat food in a bowl, just outside the back door.

As we got to know each other I started cutting some of the dogs meat into Maggy friendly pieces. Then the Butcher birds turned up. They like to take even smaller pieces of meat on the wing, if thrown up for them. Feeding time became a bit of a production at our place.

Add a year or so, & my youngest daughter had the Maggies eating from her hand, & bringing the next generation in for a feed, as soon as they were were flying. Today during nesting season I have Maggies landing at my feet the moment I step out side, demanding something for their chicks.

Enter my daughters cat. I'm minding it for a while. I think it must have attacked the Maggies, as soon as it was allowed out. This was not a good idea for a town cat. It no longer goes out, & even avoids the glass door when the Maggies are out there.

This has not effected our relationship with them, & they are feeding babies right now, so are looking for more handouts than usual. They follow me around the garden, expecting me to supply catapilars off the hibiscus bushes, & citrus trees when I'm there. So if you have a troublesome Maggie, try supplying some suitable food, & you just may become friends.

Hasbeen we have something in common.
A mate on the coast feeds his visitors peanuts.
Watching Maggy's crack them, and demand more is fun.
The PC brigade will warn us not to feed but never know we increase their numbers.
Mine are lessor in numbers, now with kookaburras eat best mince.
But are troubled by pee wees and most of all the flying rats Indian Minor birds.
Worth knowing, this village had ,sadly had, albinos in the flock.
A pure white and others just a lot more pink eyes too.
All trapped and stolen we never found out by who.
We do have a unique native wildlife known to inhabit nearby hills.
The answer may be found there among the tin sheds old cars and rather scattered crops.

Belly our kookaburras are totally aloof. Nothing I offer them tempts them in any way.

They nest in a tree just 30ft from the clothes line, & often sit on it, & watch us.

I did catch them mating this year, in an adjacent tree, about 40ft up. They must have become too excited, as they fell out of it, still locked together.

Luckily it's a bushy tree, as their fall was slowed as they bounced of every branch, on the way down, & finally off a thick passion fruit vine on a 4 ft high trellis.

They were still locked together, & much as I wanted to check them out, I stayed away. 10 minutes later they separated, flew up to a low branch, & sat looking accusingly at each other for some time, before going about their normal day.

There is at least one risk that I am aware of and that is if you mistakenly feed them a deficient diet, it can lead to a heightened risk of the *maggies* getting that awful condition where their beaks become crumbly leading eventually to a situation where they can no longer feed naturally. .. I have seen a lot of it around me regrettably.

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We feed different birds often, but where a local population becomes dependent or simply prefers to hang out and predominately feed and inter-relate with people, it would be better in my view to have some quality web based "best practice" guides to access so we can get it more right.

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I think the TV pollies should do more with their bit of TV space than what they currently do by outreaching with information packet dispersal.

An example that comes to mind which had some good features but wasn't altogether there was one occasion watching *Wayne Swan*

1. He was talking about getting the budget back into black and he had on a great jet black jumper.

2. Health & Safety were involved and he had on a yellow orange safety waste coat.

3. Had a hat on too, but the logo and writing weren't discernible.

4. An "Australia.Gov.AU" overlay on the bottom would have been good, and maybe a tax web site linky for his budget paper or something appropriate for the moment.

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5. For the environment Minister, maybe a "maggie link" pre swooping time etc etc to compliment whatever they happen to be talking about.

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6. If the ALP wishes to reach out to a wider audience, then surely one way is to engage people with quality, stimulating and uplifting information, much of which is good for all of us to be aware of. All they need to do, is bring it all together and link everyone in on screen.

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There are a lot of support mechanisms and guv products and services out there, but too many people are unfortunately unaware or insufficiently aware of them.

Hasbeen I am aware of that soft beak problem.
My mates peanuts stop that.
Bits and pieces fly every ware and are picked up not wasted.
In other times, rabbits about I cut strips small,and Kookas loved it , butcher birds too, different type here.
Now the song of all three is gold.
Feeding birds in suburbia is not bad, natural food needs supplements.
Here my visitors come and go, eat nature food too.
Galahs out the front upside down on the power lines.

We get ground meat for the butcher birds, maggies and kookas. They vary in boldness. Some kookas will perch on our arms, and we can stroke them. Some butchies are also bold. The maggies are the only ones who defecate on the verandah. We also get noisy miners coming for the meat. They will not come close to us but wil dive bomb and harass the other birds. A currawong occasionally intrudes a malign presence.

We put out seed for the seed eaters. We get pale headed rosellas, lorikeets, king parrots, crested pigeons and bush turkeys. Once I took a computer to bed w me before putting out seed. A male king parrot banged on the window w his beak in protest.