BEDLAM erupted once Donald and Daisy arrived on the balcony railing. Not only couldn’t their parents control them but neither could I. Mum and Dad didn’t seem to mind in the least the fact that I had taken over responsibility for feeding their brats, on the contrary, they were positively pleased that they could just sit back and pig out while I handled the mayhem of feeding their kids as well as them.

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SOMETHING was afoot in the magpie’s tree house. Unbeknownst to me, Mum and Dad were teaching Donald to sing. This became apparent one day during the bird’s early feed. Mum and Dad were perched on the balcony railing happily consuming their morning hamburger.

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FREQUENTLY Dad would place some meat into either Donald or Daisy’s beak then withdraw it before they could grab it. I realized that Dad was in fact weaning them off him feeding them as it was quite obvious to me – and I expect to him – that they were now both big and ugly enough to fend for themselves.

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EVERYTHING in the neighbourhood settled back down to normal once Donald and Daisy had gone. Both Mum and Dad seemed to really chill out and Squeaky and his crew were happy and content once more, for they were no longer hassled at snack time. Yes, life at the hamburger stand really did return to the peacefulness that it was before – well…. for a short while anyway!

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ELVIRA became more confident over time and would sometimes sit a way up from the crew at the very end of the building, perched on the guttering and accept the bits of hamburger that I threw to her. If I was slightly off line with my throw, which was often the case, the missiles were in danger of being intercepted and eaten by the more experienced and crafty butcherbirds.

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