[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Not the footy team, the bird.
I have been seduced by these birds and others like them.
Any ideas I've entertained of becoming a normal, well-adjusted, fully-funcioning, rational member of society have now vanished.
I have become,for all intents and purposes, and to my shame, a 'Bird Watcher' :O

It started last year when a bloke from Monash Uni posted an ad in the local rag wanting people to keep an eye on the behaviour of Magpies over the next 24 months. He had a very-well prepared checklist of stufff Magpies do and all we had to do was note the month, time of day, weather conditions and periodicity of different behaviours.
If possible could we plase record their songs while doing so?

Being out-and-about a lot, this was pretty simple and I eventually became engrossed.
Did you know that Magpies don't "Swoop" in rural areas?
I didn't either.
That the aforementioned 'swooping' is actually part of urban Maggies mating ritual rather than a defensive posture?
News to me.
Were you aware that Maggies are supposedly, of all Australian birds, infantalised for ther longest period?
Their parents will go on feeding them well into their 2nd or 3rd year if another 'litter' isn't produced.
Fascinating! Really!

This low-grade voyeurism eventually began to extend to other species
and I now know what a Splendid Fairy Wren is thinking even before he
does. I can tell the difference between a Gang-Gang and a Gallah, and can spot a male from a female Wedge-Tail at 50 metres. Frightening.

I have come to appreciate bird's plumage(s), their different songs, their behaviour (identifying birds by behaviour is apparently called 'Jizz' or 'Jizzing' which is quite "yeuuccch" really but is an excellent Scrabble word), but most of all I just enjoy watching them do "secret bird business".
All carefully recorded and annotated to be sure.

Has anyone else fallen victim to this gentle madness? It seems like another slippery slope to bankruptcy as an decent birding scope costs north of $1000!. But I'm up for it.
Interested to hear from long-time/new birders about their experiences.
PJH