A magpie saves a life

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Another feel-good Western Australian story involves a lady from Esperance where we once lived. Sandie Gillard has been caring for wildlife for over 70 years but in a freak accident in 2020, she fell from a two-storey balcony, hitting her head on the pavement below. She cracked her skull and her right arm was torn from its socket. As she began to regain unconscious, she heard a purring sound and felt something was tapping her gently on the head as if trying to waken her. She came to enough to call her husband. Paramedics were called and Sandie was flown to Royal Perth Hospital. Doctors say that if she hadn’t woken when she did, she might have died. The purring and tapping came from Jellybean, a magpie that Sandie had cared for after it fell from its nest, too young to fly. Jellybean lived in the wild but regularly visited Sandie. The photo is of my mother’s magpies. They were wild but came to the back door to be fed. What I found interesting about Mum’s feathered friends was that a single bird would arrive, Mum would get some food for it and half a dozen more birds would suddenly appear without the single bird uttering a single chirp. The photo is of a handsome magpie that my Mum used to feed.