S8 Ep551: 3. Jeremy Zakis describes a shift in bird populations as minor birds swamp his backyard, displacing cockatoos, while Dallas the Spoodle maintains some control over visitors. (28)

Whether it's slots or live dealers, SpinQuest.com has the fun and action you're looking for,

with SpinQuest exclusives, Blackjack, Roulette, Fakera, and even live dice with craps and

bubble craps.

The games never stop, so you don't have to.

And right now, new users get $30 coin packs for just $10.

Play now at SpinQuest.com.

SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino.

We're prohibited.

Visit SpinQuest.com for more details.

This is the Friends of Mr. Debating Society to New South Wales, to Jeremy's Accus, to

Dallas the 11-year-old Spoodle and the Flight of the Cockatoo's, the Flight of the Minor

Birds, the Flight of the Magpie, the Gathering of the Birds in New South Wales.

There is a plot afoot where not sure what it is, where noticing changes in the immediate

atmosphere, whether Dallas is on scene or whether he's off scene.

The birds are watching.

Jeremy, what can you tell us about the pattern this week?

Well, John, there has certainly been a plot twist, I guess you could say.

This week, the minor birds have started landing on our back lawn in the patio and porch

area, and not only are they landing, there are numbers more than I've ever seen before.

They've initially, they've really doubled since I initially saw them just a few weeks

ago, starting to land on the fence and basically land on the neighbours' garage next door.

But the interesting thing is, too, the minor birds are landing, but the cockatoo's are disappearing.

The cockatoo's we had in the trees have very much just disappeared.

The ones that flew over in the evening, making all the racket and flew in very low,

doing low passes over our house, they have disappeared as well.

It's almost as if the minor birds have completely swamped and taken over the airspace just

by sheer numbers in the past week and the cockatoo's have moved on some routes.

Now, that's not to say every single cockatoo has gone away, there's still one particular

one that sits up in the tree and kind of eyeballs me and Dallas when we're wandering around

there.

I think he might be the kingpin for one of the better words, but honestly, they have moved

out.

But the interesting thing, too, is that Dallas and the minor birds, while one or two minor

birds, Dallas is happy.

They land in the backyard, they'll often be with the magpies and they'll just cohabitate.

But Dallas goes outside all these minor birds, which tells me I think they're a part of

a different flock.

They will disappear as soon as they see Dallas on the ground, they're off.

So this is interesting, I haven't seen this before, we've had minor birds in ones and

twos, but not literally maybe the 50 to 100 that we're seeing at the moment.

But Dallas still is raining some control over them.

He is still able to actually, you know, exert control and get them out of the backyard,

which is kind of good, but, you know, I'm worried where they're going with this next.

Are they purchasing on your neighbor's shed the way I saw last week?

Oh, they still are.

They definitely are.

And in fact, yesterday I did know the lawns and did some gardening and as soon as I got

everything inside and I wasn't out there, they were immediately descending, not only onto

that fence line, but onto the actual driveway and they were just having a feast.

So in some ways, it's telling me maybe this warm and wet cycle we're getting here is

introducing a lot of new plant life around this property and we're lucky we have great

lawns and guns doing really well.

Maybe that's drawn them in, but so no, absolutely they're purchasing out that side.

Then the backyard is pretty much just over on the other side, about 30, 40 yards away.

So they're all around that area, but it was the backyard really that made the difference

because that used to be the conquered to his domain, but now it's the minor birds.

I've learned from you that the birds of Australia do not migrate the way they do here in New England.

You don't see flights of geese going north or south depending on the season.

Where do the minor birds winter, do they just stay with you and New South Wales?

They actually do.

And you typically do see them in the trees, the larger trees in the wintertime.

They do tend to stay on the lower branches and the cockatoo is actually the ones that

stay on the higher branches like the magpies, but they just find a nice big tree in a kind

of protected area and that's where they stay.

Typically they'll just move in and out of an area that's fairly close, so like the cockatoo's,

they might fly one or two clums during the day, then they'll go back to their sleeping

area at night time.

The minor birds seem to be doing this too, and from what I can tell, one of their sleeping

areas is only about three doors down.

There's a nice big tree that's kind of a, a bit of a fern, a fur tree, I guess you could

say, and the minor birds do hang out there.

So I'm thinking that's probably where they're sleeping at night time, and then they're just

coming down during the daytime.

We've got birdwatchers who are listening to us Jeremy, and everything you say about

the birds of Australia makes birdwatchers think, you know, I'm finally going to break

down and buy that ticket.

I've got to go to Australia, because it would be easy pickings to arrive in Australia

the first time and score all those birds that you've never been able to put on your list.

Easy pickings.

What about the magpies?

Any change in their pattern?

No, in fact, they are definitely still around.

In fact, there is a new baby magpie too, I spotted him the other day, he's, he's mainly

living sort of towards the end of the street here, so he's only come onto the property once,

but there, the magies are still there.

There's at least three families that are involved, certainly on the walks.

In fact, this is how I knew that there was a new baby, because Dallas kind of trembling

along what he normally does, that the mummy and daddy magpie, they did, they're not

come up and say that alive, but the baby magpie was a little bit skittish.

But the last couple of days, he's been a little less skittish and actually comes up and says

hi and Dallas does his normally tail, normal tail wag and says hello as well.

So magpies are going great, in fact, they're bolstering in numbers, but that's still coming

around too.

The only difference, actually, I have noticed that the magpies typically are making sure

they get in first, so they have started coming in a little bit earlier, if the minor birds

are here, they'll still land and the minor birds, this new flock, will actually go away.

So the magpies are holding their own, I guess you could say, and still being a dominant

creature, I guess you say, from here.

Jeremy Zachis in New South Wales, talking to the animals, yes, of course, that's what

going up men do when they're with canines, we talk to the animals.

This is John Becer in southern New England.

I expect this, and I'm directing this remark directly at the snow.

I'm expecting the snow will be gone when we next speak, Jeremy.

We have 40 and 50 degrees all week, which means my stream will be a flood and the grass

should be able to see it next week, and the first of the tulips know that it's too early

for the tulips.

The definitely should be coming through it, and we'll see what else.

The snow drops are under there, I just can't see them yet.

It's about a foot of snow, Jeremy, and above that, about three or four inches of ice,

we had a New England winter.

Jeremy Zachis, he had in Australia and summer.

Now we're going to switch places.

I'm John Bachelor.

What's up, baby?

It's Bretski.

And I'm here to tell you that SpinQuest.com is giving out free sweet coins.

All you got to do is purchase a $10 coin pack, and guess what, they're going to give you

the coins from a $30 coin pack.

That lets you play all your favorite games like Blackjack, Wanted Dead or Wild, and we're

talking real cash prizes, baby.

SpinQuest.com

SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino.

It's tax season, and by now, we're all a bit tired of numbers.

But here's an important one you need to hear.

$16 billion.

That's how much money and refunds the IRS flanked for possible identity fraud.

But it's not all grim news.

Lifelock monitors millions of data points per second, and alerts you to threats you could

easily miss on your own.

If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it.

Guaranteed.

Save up to 40% your first year.

Visit lifelock.com slash iHeart, Terms Apply.