Aussie Woman Thoroughly Enjoys Having 50 Magpies In Her Backyard Every Day

For some people, even the thought of a magpie getting up close and personal with you is the stuff of nightmares.

These black and white birds, with their beady eyes, like to terrorise Aussies every springtime as they defend their nests from intruders.

But for Collette Dunn, they're welcome friends every morning.

Sunrise

The Gold Coast woman says that dozens of magpies descend on her home every day to hang out and lap up the attention given to them by Dunn and her family.

Shockingly, Collette says the highest number of magpies in her backyard at one time was 52.

Some people can't even stomach one bird let alone more than 50 of them.

Collette has told Sunrise that she's grown to enjoy hanging out with her winged friends: "They came to me, I certainly didn't go looking for them. They turned up at the yard one day and we built the relationship we have now.

"They've never swooped me at all and I don't hand feed them, so I don't worry about the sharp beak. They're very well behaved, they come here, have their food, a bath and then take off for the day.

Sunrise

"They have a reputation, but they're actually very loyal, trusting and intelligent birds if people give them the chance."

She says that she often will wake up at 5:30am and will come outside to sit with her coffee and the group of magpies will usually be 'outside waiting for me'.

Imagine that.

Walking outside to find a a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's legendary The Birds in your backyard and there's just dozens of magpies patiently sitting there; watching you with their little, black eyes.

Collette feeds them a breakfast of dried crickets, mealworms, sunflower seeds, oats and premium mince.

Magpies also have a pretty distinctive call and just having one outside your window during the morning can be a better alarm clock than most. So picture 30 of these bad boys all warbling at the same time. Collette says that she actually loves their call and so do her neighbours (yeah, right).

Collette reckons the massive influx of magpies to her property is due to the bushfires and drought.

Topics: News, Animals, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie