An old photo of a magpie in a tree

As I waited for a lift in to work this morning, I stopped rushing around to listen and watch what was happening around me. It's amazing how much is happening around my home in the early hours of the morning. There was the one cyclist who rode past, all wrapped up due to the chilly morning.

I listened to two magpies sing to each other (how can such scary birds have such beautiful voices?).

There was a flock of white cockatoos sitting quietly on the telephone lines.

Two galas silently flew past.

One large white cockatoo took off, calling loudly as it flew overhead.

The tiny wrens in the nearby bush chattered to each other constantly while flitting from branch to branch.

A crow squawked once as it flew overhead.

I love Canberra.

So this is what the magpies get up to outside my home, when I'm at work.....

I've taken the day off work to concentrate on my Human Factors assignment, where I have to develop a comparison of the US OSHA occupational noise exposure standard with recent research findings. Funnily enough, it's actually quite an interesting subject.

The magpies outside were a pleasant distraction, with their musical singing to each other, and their play fights over the bread that I left outside.