As well as feeding the local brushtail possums that used to come into our gum trees of a night time. I also fed an Australian bird called a magpie. There was an easement a vacant section of land next to our house. I came home one day to find that one of the juvenile magpies was sitting on the ground in a difficult position. Adult magpies are very protective of their young ones. I was able to gently pick the juvenile
bird up and thought of taking it to a vet but didn't know how to carry it.

I had an idea, I wrapped it in a jacket and then got into my car. I used my set belt to keep the bird in place in my jacket while I drove to the vets. I handed the jacket with the young bird in it to one of the receptionists but she was frightened of it. A vet took it and the bird started making a lot of noise. Next thing a voice from the surgery said "Quickly where is Mrs Maple. Hurry up and get her" (Mrs Maple is me) I went into the surgery and started talking softly to the bird. It immediately quietened down and I
was able to show the vet what was wrong with the bird. I felt that it had jarred its legs when it tried
to land on top of a fence. The vet thought the same thing.

I was escorted by a staff member and put it in a cage. The next morning I had a telephone call asking me to go back to the vets to pick the bird up as it had recovered completely So I went to the vets and got it and brought it home the same way as I took it wrapped in a jacket. When I got home I went back to the place where I found it and let it loose I whistled and the mother bird came to see what was happening. She saw the younger bird up on a fence. Then the father bird did the same thing. They both accepted it back again. The juvenile bird flew off and there was no more trouble with it.

The parent birds knew me because I had fed them for a couple of years.

Barbara Maple