Book Review – George by Frieda Hughes

Magpies are common birds that I have seen everywhere from Korea, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. The one I saw in Montana really surprised me as it turned around and showed the size of its tail and the blue feathers. Our American species, (Yellow Billed and Black Billed), are mostly on the west coast. The Yellow Billed species are reported to live mainly in California. Other world species include Eurasian and Australian Magpies. Part of the Corvidae bird family, their behavior is similar to crows. Magpies are also know to be very intelligent birds. Their food consists of everything from insects to small reptiles and amphibians, but if you leave your dog’s food out they will swoop down and grab that, too. Frieda Hughes verifies that, and the intelligence of Magpies in her book.

“GEORGE” by Frieda Hughes

This is another unexpectedly great book about animal behavior in regard to an unexpected animal. The author Frieda Hughes rescued a Magpie baby bird after it was blasted out of its nest by a storm. The new born was in bad shape but Frieda did a great job healing it. Thanks to her habit of keeping up a daily journal, she was then able to write about its day by day recovery and the behavior of the bird she named George. The bird’s adaptation to its new mom and location is a very interesting story. Of course we expect it to trust its new food provider but George also learned to like and play with Frieda’s dogs. And her the dogs learned to like George. The young Magpie loved and trusted Frieda so much it landed on her many times. Yet this trust did not end there; it also trusted other humans so much that it did the same with them, often landing on their heads. It also showed the ability to speak like a budgie, and collect small colorful things. Frieda Hughes has an interesting life too, and this is added to the story. But over and over you will be surprised at the things George does as it matures. Some of these things are the reasons many people do not like Magpies, but things that Frieda Hughes, and now me, find amazing.