A tiding of....

Isn't he a gorgeous fellow with his rain bowed hued tail and gleaming white shoulders?

A tiding (or "charm", "gulp", "mischief", "tittering", and "tribe") of magpies has been inhabiting our garden the past few weeks.

They used to occasionally hang out in our front yard.

Now they seem to have discovered our backyard. I caught four of them in this picture; there are five magpies all together in the tiding

When Larry the Cable Squirrel tried to join their party by sneaking onto the garden bench, I thought it was kind of cute. Larry assumed an adorable classic upright/tail arched pose just as I lifted my camera up.

My camera shot didn't capture the Hallmark card multi-species unity scene.

Nope.

All I got was the blur of two magpies attacking Larry as he raced to leap off the left hand side of the bench.

I had no idea magpies were anti-squirrel!

(Special PS to my favorite chicka daughter Laura: Happy 32nd birthday! Look out for those boll weevils!)