Today in nature I saw

We have a pair of butcherbirds that nest in a big tree in our yard. Arthur and Martha. Martha in particular is almost entirely fearless of people, and has been since before we met her so I suspect she had good experiences with people from a young age.

We feed them a little (not enough they become dependent) particularly when they are breeding. They have one youngster in tow at the moment. Martha, for all I love her, is a greedy bitch. She will snatch food thrown to the other two without a qualm.

Butcherbirds have a lovely song and mimic other birds. This is Martha in full voice:

If you know Brisbane birds, you can recognise almost every Brisbane backyard birdcall in this video, all being made by Martha. Sorry about the weird quacking and whistling noises I make, they encourage her to keep going.