Before I cut your tree down......

[Barry]

I was sent to cut down a very sick wattle today and my off-sider noticed the heavy fog had collected in this web. SO before I dropped the tree on the footpath, I grabbed the camera and got a shot.



Later in the day, I was up in an elevated work platform, cutting dead-wood out of the tree tops when I spotted a nest about seven metres off the ground. I drove over to take a gander and what do I find in the nest?.... Blocks of concrete curbing! For scale, the smaller rock in the nest is about the size of my fist. The nest looks like a typical Magpie construction, with the usual wire coat-hangers and all.

[LJG]

And it sounds like somebody was trying to drive the Maggies away Barry. Not nice. Yes, I know they can be a pain but still, that is a bit below the belt, people who do that sort of thing get up my wick! Boarers in the wattle Barry? That is what has struck all the ones I have had - you have to keep right on to them otherwise they sneak in. Do like the first shot though.

[P Plates]

Amazing shot of the web with fantastic detail. Why would anyone bother getting up 7 metres to put concrete in a nest.

[Barry]

And it sounds like somebody was trying to drive the Maggies away Barry. Not nice. Yes, I know they can be a pain but still, that is a bit below the belt, people who do that sort of thing get up my wick! Boarers in the wattle Barry? That is what has struck all the ones I have had - you have to keep right on to them otherwise they sneak in. Do like the first shot though.

Yeah, borers get into a lot of the wattle around Canberra. Most of the wattle around here only lasts 20 to 30 years then it's got to be cut down and replaced.

People putting rocks in a nest to stop the birds from nesting there doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't it be easier to pull the nest down and destroy it, rather than climb a tree with concrete blocks? You would be exchanging the hazard of swooping birds in season, for the risk of dangerous falling objects....

I've seen stupid things before, but then.... Magpies are smarter than a lot of people out there....