Parade: Magpie songs from up on high across Bathurst

Every day as she takes her morning walk she comes across many families of magpies.

Young ones learning how to make their way in life, older ones looking for a meal and others up high in trees and on telegraph poles singing their morning songs.

And, the best moment for Parade is hearing the magpies’ joyful songs as she passes by.

A quick research into magpies on www.birdlife.org.au revealed a few things for Parade.

“This striking black-and-white bird is, according to the experts, a large species of butcherbird,” the website states.

While the Australian magpie is black and white, the site states that the plumage pattern varies across the country.

“Its nape, upper tail and shoulder are white in males, grey in females. Across most of Australia, the remainder of the body is black,” it states.

The only regions magpies are generally absent from is dense forests and arid deserts.

Parade will share with you one last magpie thought, and a line in a poem by Australian woman Judith Wright.

In her poem called Magpies she described them as “certain gentlemen who seem most nonchalant and wise”, well that is until they are eating.

While there is no room here to retell the poem in full, Parade would say it is well worth taking the time to search for it online.

If there is anyone else who loves the sights and sounds of magpies, why not check out The Magpie Whisperer page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/themagpiewhisperer.

Parade had a wander around the central business district this week and was happy to see so many new businesses springing up.

New coffee shops and wine bars are moving in, while existing businesses are moving to bigger premises as they grow.

It seems to Parade like the sign of a pretty happy and healthy city if businesses are moving in and expanding.