In Magpie's Gift, a magpie is searching for nesting material when he finds a piece of blue wool. However, when he returns to retrieve the woo l, it has already been claimed by a satin bowerbird. The Australian magp ie is a large butcher bird with a rich and musical song. The male satin bowerbird is known for decorating its bower, a nest of upright sticks, w ith bright blue objects. About the Author: R ebecca Johnson is an award-winning primary school science teacher and ha s written more than 60 books for children.