Jay Hanna: Losing mature trees comes at a cost to us all, especially Mac the magpie
“X marks the spot!” the flyer from the City of Stirling proclaimed. “Congratulations!”
How wonderful, I thought. After more than a decade of being a law-abiding ratepayers, our council is rewarding us with a treasure hunt.
Sadly, the next sentence put paid to any hopes of finding a trunk full of gold buried nearby.
Instead, we were being alerted to the arrival of a new street tree, presumably to replace the sad-looking Queensland box tree that, like many mature trees across Perth, had fallen victim to the long, dry summer.
To be honest, I hate the tree because it drops millions, nay trillions, of small nuts on our verge. And when you do the bin run with no shoes on, those things are guaranteed to get wedged in your foot pointy end-up. It’s worse than standing on Lego.
The City of Stirling previously considered phasing out Queensland box trees because the nuts are a tripping hazard on footpaths. And yes, I’ll be using that excuse next time I stumble getting from the Uber to my front door.
But I was unhappy about the possible removal of the tree because a family sleeps in it. No, not mine, although if the cost of living keeps skyrocketing it may come to that. Instead I’m talking about a motley crew of magpies we’ve become somewhat attached to.
Mac is the patriarch and he’s completely bonkers. Every time I see him enthusiastically cantering across our lawn, I hear the Benny Hill theme tune playing in my head. Magpies are mainly ground-dwellers, but Mac more so than most because he has a broken wing and can’t get more than a metre or so off the ground.
His other signature move is to use a particularly strong gust of wind to propel him across the street, his good wing lifted like a mast in a storm.
In what remains one of life’s great mysteries, we have occasionally spied him way up high in the massive gum tree next door, perched precariously and squawking as loud as possible so everyone will take notice. I know what you’re thinking — he’s likely faking the extent of his injury, but we’ve seen him try to fly in an emergency and it is not pretty.
Before you start feeling too sorry for Mac you should know that despite his shortcomings, he has a lady love named Mary. They have been debugging our front yard for about eight years and in return we put water out for them.
A few years ago, they were joined by R2D2, so-called because her singsong warbling sounds identical to the chirps and beeps of the Star Wars bot. Recently two more females arrived. Mac is either a real chick magnet or Mary doesn’t feign enough headaches.
Around dusk, as the sky turns a pretty peachy pink, the four females glide into the upper branches of our verge tree. Mac’s arrival is far less cinematic.
His technique is somewhat reminiscent of when you’ve done too many squats at the gym and find that in order to use the toilet the following day you have to lean back as far as possible before launching yourself backwards onto the seat in a bid to avoid bending your legs. The only differences are Mac aims up not down and he’s protecting his wing, not his aching quads.
Using an ugly bottlebrush in our front yard, he bounces to a height where its branches meet those of the Queensland box then he hurtles himself up and over. We have long wanted to dig up the bottlebrush, but leave it out of a bizarre sense of loyalty to Mac.
I’ve checked and none of the healthy trees on our street have such easy access for a flightless bird, so what will Mac do if our tree is removed? Where will he sleep? Will his posse of ladies desert him? These thoughts worry me far too much.
Our new tree, a mere sapling, was one of around 6000 the City of Stirling planted this winter. But the Queensland box remains. We are hopeful it hasn’t been targeted for removal, just yet.
A City of Stirling spokesperson said council trees are regularly inspected and that resident objections to the removal of a street tree will be considered in the decision-making process.
They also acknowledged that “tree canopy is vital in our urban environment” and the aim was to “manage achieving our tree canopy targets at the same time as managing tree risk”.
The spokesperson said while it is not possible to establish how many trees died in the summer drought, the council had taken preventative action through increased watering.
Mature trees provide vital habitats to birds and other wildlife, offer shade in the summer, and add to the overall street appeal of suburbs. Replacing them with saplings is far from ideal. Given the impact of climate change and the ongoing threat posed by the polyphagous shot-hole borer, local and State governments need to do more to protect these valuable green assets because their loss impacts us all.
With the fate of our Queensland box in the balance, we plan to do our bit and water it in the hopes we can prevent Mac from becoming homeless. Although this could prove counterproductive when the incoming water bill sends us broke, and we are forced to sell — because I can guarantee the first thing new owners would do is rip up the ugly bottlebrush.
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