I made a scientific discovery!

I had always believed the biologists who claimed that humans were the only species to have sex facing their partner. Well, tonight I observed first hand that magpies also do the do in this way! I'm not sure if this is unique to magpies or if, perhaps, other birds do it like that. It is quite rare to see bird intercourse, I think. I saw a couple of pigeons do it but only once and, when you think about how often you see pigeons 'flirting', I figure the act itself must be pretty rare. The pigeons, incidentally, were not face to face as far as I can remember.

The magpie pictured is by Eleanor Grosch who gave the instructions that allowed me to create a frog to be proud of on Adobe Illustrator. I really like her style, even though I do think she should have done two magpies. One for sorrow and all that... I wonder if two magpies mating means extra double whammy joy?

One final and more sombre announcement... I have, on my hands, a homeless hulder... No, really! Emma - please get in touch so that I can send you your prize! If you haven't claimed her by midnight on Saturday I am going to choose a different winner. It makes me too sad to see her sitting unclaimed :( I will leave a comment on your blog saying the same thing.

Update: the hulder has been homed.  Hooray!  So glad you got in touch, Emma :)