Still trapped down south of home but some days are better than others. Today, a parade of humpbacks passing by, leaping presumably for the sheer joy of it. Great to watch.

On those all-too-rare occasions when I do drag myself outside for a cigar, I am often joined by either the local scrub turkeys or the magpies. Neither show any fear and will wander around or even, for the magpies, fly onto the table next to me. All very nice although the magpies do have a fearsome looking beak that could do a lot of damage if you got on the wrong side of one. As I was to witness.

Upstairs looking down and I noticed a magpie in the bushes next door. Thought it might have trapped a small bird in there and was trying to get hold of it. Next thing, it pulls out a reasonable sized snake. Hard to tell what it was but I suspect either a green tree snake or a whip snake. The latter would presumably be poisonous to something the size of a magpie. Did not matter. The poor snake stood no chance. The magpie tore it to shreds. Chopped it up and flew off with pieces for the family, I assume.

I shall be very careful when next the…