Things seem to have settled down now, but for a few weeks the back yard was very active with magpie goings-on. There are two tall Manitoba Maple trees in the back yard, both of which have magpie nests in them.

Magpie nests are surprisingly large and complicated structures, given that magpies aren't actually all that big. One of the nests is large enough that my wife calls it "the condo", the other is more modest. They build them high up, when possible, and obscured by leaves. They are very obvious in the winter, late fall and early spring, but not easy to see in the summer.

Nonetheless, we had several weeks of magpie babies calling for food every few hours. During the in-between periods, though, they were surprisingly quiet. I suppose that is just natural for them, in order to not draw attention. Still, it is rather impressive. Most human parents would love to have new-borns that are so quiet, when not requesting a meal.

The adults remained rather busy, flying away with food in their beaks to feed the young ones. They also performed a sort of guard duty. There were usually a few hanging around, watching the yard, sometimes taking turns in regards to their duties. During this time they were also more wary of people (i.e. us). At other times, they are pretty tolerant of our presence, especially when we leave them some left-overs that we couldn't eat ourselves.

We have some squirrels as well. Squirrels and magpies don't get along too well. During this time, the magpies were very disinclined to allow the squirrels anywhere near their nesting trees, for fear that they have bad intentions towards the eggs and/or babies. One day, as I was hitting golf balls into my backyard net, I noticed the squirrel edging its way towards the nesting tree. It was playing it coy, pretending that it had no real interest in that tree, just sort of exploring. But the magpies weren't having any of that - they chased it away in quick time. To be fair, the squirrels have a legitimate concern that the magpies will make a meal out of their babies, if they get the chance.

A little while ago, the magpies must have fledged, leaving the nest. For a little while, I would see two magpies in close company exploring the lawn. One was obviously older and the other was smaller and evidently younger (it's feathers were still very pristine in appearance). Sometimes the older one would appear to be feeding the younger one. The picture is from Google images, but that's what it looks like.

The older one also seemed to be teaching the younger one how to peck the ground, looking for insects. It wold peck, and the younger one would imitate that behavior. I don't know if the young one was aware of the purpose of the pecking, but I suppose it caught on when it got the odd insect or two.

A few years ago, there was a hawk nest in a tree across the alley. Those eggs hatched and the young hawks grew up, eventually leaving the nest themselves. We observed that during a Covid lock-down summer. Those hawks seem to have returned to the area, though perhaps it is a different bunch. They wheel around in the sky at times, making that weird scree noise (like a Saturday morning cartoon of a pterodactyl).

Perhaps the magpie activity has become less overt because of that. Or maybe it is the heat - it has been well into the 30s Celsius for a week or so (that's 85 to 95 in Fahrenheit). At any rate, things have gotten quieter.

But then, the other night, a family of skunks were wandering around the back yard and apparently camping out under the neighbors deck. Neighborhood cat had been acting a bit funny lately, hanging around and looking at me as if I was supposed to do something for it (it is usually a bit skittish). I guess it knew about the skunks before I did. Hopefully we can all coexist.

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And here is a book recommendation:

The Summer Cottage Mystery

Here's a nice children's story by Science Fiction and Romance writer Helena Puumala. Yes, she does kid's stories too. Read it to a younger child (pre-school, elementary or early junior-high), or read it yourself to bring back memories of those long, lazy childhood days at the lake, during summer vacation, when your biggest worry in life was a lost kitten. Note that this is a short story of about 8500 words.