Desperate

These small birds are so shy they wouldn't normally come within 15 ft of me let alone 5 ft.  There's a breeding frenzy going on out there.  

The Murray magpie, or Magpie-lark, depending on which taxonomist you prefer, is a common bird, but shy as I said.  This one is a male, doing his fatherly duty.  I can tell he's a bloke because of that rather dashing white flash above his eyes.

Here's a portion of the Wikipedia entry for those who are interested.

The magpie-lark (also known as wee magpie) is of small to medium size, reaching 25 to 30 cm (9.8 to 11.8 in) long when fully grown, or about the same size as a European common blackbird, and boldly pied in black and white; the weight range is 63.9 to 118 g (2.25 to 4.16 oz) for males, and 70 to 94.5 g (2.47 to 3.33 oz) for females. The sexes are similar from a distance but easy to tell apart: the female has a white throat, the male a black throat and a white "eyebrow".