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Jay Hanna: I never thought I’d be a crazy bird lady, but a magpie won me over, now they need our help

Headshot of Jay Hanna
Jay HannaThe West Australian
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WA magpies are in serious danger.
Camera IconWA magpies are in serious danger. Credit: TerriAnneAllen/Pixabay

I never thought I’d identify as a crazy bird lady.

To this day, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic The Birds is the only horror movie I’ve deemed too scary to ever watch. I’m sure anyone who was ever swooped by a magpie can relate.

But then Mac the magpie won me over.

Mac used to live in our verge tree. He had a broken wing, a tonne of swag and a posse of ladies who loved him regardless.

Mac was always up to mischief. Whether it was somehow getting himself into the highest branches of the towering gum next door and screeching so the whole street admired his miraculous feat, or dashing across the road good wing raised like the mast of sail to keep him on course in the wind.

But, it was his song that I loved best. His triumphant morning melody seemed to sing out: “Woo hoo, I’ve made it to another day! Hallelujah”, like a little black and white evangelist.

Now the singing has gone silent and I no longer wake up feeling quite so chipper. And again, at dusk, as the sky turns from peachy pink to purple, there’s nothing but a disquieting quiet where Mac’s high-pitched evening calls used to fill the air.

While I’d like to assume Mac and the girls have moved to a better tree in a nicer part of town, the odds are like the thousands of other magpies across WA, they have fallen victim to magpie paralysis syndrome.

This year, cases of the deadly syndrome increased fivefold. If that trend continues there’s genuine concern that magpies might disappear from suburbia altogether.

Researchers are scrambling to find out more about this mystery syndrome which cases birds to become paralysed from the legs up. If left untreated they will slowly die, unless a predator gets them first. It’s an awful way to go.

Magpies are falling victim to magpie paralysis syndrome.
Camera IconMagpies are falling victim to magpie paralysis syndrome. Credit: BeckyTregear/Pixabay

A recent UK study showed that bird song has a positive impact on our mental health, and is there a better bird song than that of WA magpies? It’s part of the very fabric of life in this State, like the smell of eucalypts after the rain and the relief felt when the Fremantle Doctor finally hits on a 40-degree scorcher.

If magpies disappear it will completely change the feel and sound of life in WA.

We must do more to stop that from happening.

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