By NOEL MURPHY
WHITTINGTON’S rare white magpie and her new babies have lost their home and nest with the removal of trees to make way for a large residential project.
The albino female, sighted with two young babes in the nest last month, has since been left homeless at the Oxford St site.
Magpies are a protected native species, making killing them or removing their nests illegal.
“We have had a white magpie living near us for several years now but its home has recently been destroyed by developers demolishing a huge area of land to make way for 41 units,” resident Helen Roberts told the Independent .
“It’s so sad when protected wildlife lose their homes in this way. Because it is spring the demolition could not have come at a worse time.”
Ocean Grove photographer Danielle Bamforth, who alerted the Independent to the white magpie earlier this year, said the bird was very rare, a one-in-a -million case.
She photographed the magpie, which had been living in the area for four years, with two young offspring in September.
“I saw one of whitepie’s babies again about two weeks ago,” she said.
“I took one of her looking over her chick on the ground. Now whitepie’s tree and nest has gone.
“At first, I thought it was fenced off but I went in for a closer look and the entire tree has gone.
“But I saw one of her babies with its dad. And I heard another baby maggie in another tree, which is great news.”
