ჩვეულებრივი კაჭკაჭი: Common Magpie (Pica pica) [aka thief]

I can meet zillions of different birds all over the globe, be excited and bewitched by their beauty and whistling, but Magpies and few other species from the same family are simply - outstanding. The way they stare, the way they croak and caw (not even sure this word works to describe their sound) are simply enjoyable and very hilarious. Look at the first one, it is sitting still and firm like a tin soldier, head bent, staring proudly - a real host of the situation and the mood!

Somebody please explain to this one, there's no king or queen passing by anytime soon!
But being moody and proud is not always the way they look. Once I met a magpie which was blind in its right eye and could not see me coming with the bike... It looked old and rusty. Unclean and bushy. Clearly an old fellow... I came close and tried to let it away from the road so that nobody could harm it... That's when I realized that I actually haven't seen many old birds in

my life... But here's one on the RHS. All scruffy and fluffy;  somehow thoughtful and bored... He is part of the thief gang that comes to visit our balcony for food larceny. And they even stare directly at you, wondering what are you after. What is your business in their food theft procedure. And they do come, and they do steal and they do bend their head in a funny manner.
Sometimes if there's no food out there on the balcony, they croak unhappily and fly away to the backyard, where we have a Rowan tree with some leftover rowanberries hanging in the tree-top. They sit on the tiny twig that shakes and bends, trying to balance themselves for five minutes, then jump up, open their wings slightly, pick the berry and go away... And so the life goes on around... And I am happy seeing these rusty thieves!

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ღაჟო; Red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio)

 I know very little about shrikes. But one thing I am sure about them is that they are nice and good tempered birds. I cannot recognize their sound nor have I seen shirkes much in my life, just twice. Although I have experienced something that made me very thoughtful...
Very first shrike I captured in my life was with my amateur camera (image on the left). The appearance of it caught my eye from a very long distance. Even with poor resolution photo, by then I realized that this was an interesting bird.
The shrike I captured last summer (actually in May, 2014) in Svaneti, looked very calm and relaxed from afar. Looking at the photo closely, on a big screen at home, made me discover that the poor thing has been severely injured. It had disordered leg and its beautiful tail was cut short...
Every time I look at this photo, I gain respect to this one particular bird.
To me, it represents great courage. It is an excellent example of a fighter spirit and even essence of life somehow. No matter how life turns on us, freedom that lives in each living being still brings us to great heights. Even with broken wings, but we are still - free!

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