Morning in Everyone’s Back Yard

Irene Manion

Size: 48cm x 56cmm x .7cm
Machine and hand embroidery using long-stitch technique
Appliqued onto a digitally transfer-printed background

Magpies are efficient feeders, and the urban lawn is the perfect grazing ground for magpies who are able to hear the sound of beetles and worms just below the surface. Their hearing is exceptional, and once they have identified a sound, will take a few rapid steps and pounce on the ‘noisy’ prey. I’ve never seen them not succeed in pouncing at exactly the precise spot, and this magpie was doing just that, when I captured him, first with my camera, and then on fabric with stitches.