Magpies

[threebikesmcginty]

Beautiful birds and much misunderstood or the pit bull terrier of the bird world?

We've got a pair of them that have muscled their way into the garden, they kind of strut around the place with a 'what the f*ck's it got to do with you' look about them. Without any research whatsoever I had convinced myself that our garden bird population had plummeted since these two marauding nuisance makers started throwing their weight around the place. Did a spot of googling and the general consensus of opinion is that they have little to no effect on other birdies in the garden, save for maybe eating the odd egg or two. They're great to look at, beautiful plumage and all that.

So I'm learning to love my magpies unless anyone tells me that they are indeed bully bastards and I should run them out of town.

What do you rec?

 

[Arch]

I like them. Small birds have survived their attentions for a long time. It's humans do the worst damage.

Remember, when you see one magpie though, you have to say "Good morning Mr Magpie, how are you and all your children?" to ward off the bad luck.

 

[Fnaar]

No, you have to go to youtube and look up jenny Hanley. Or possibly Susan Stranks.

 

[vernon]

My wife spotted a magpie eating a fledgling starling on our garage roof. They visit our garden but there's no food that the can access apart from aforementioned fledglings and even then it got lucky.

 

[vernon]

No, you have to go to youtube and look up jenny Hanley. Or possibly Susan Stranks.

Or you might find them skulking at a bar after today's defeat by Arsenal.

 

[Globalti]

Fact: magpies are very territorial and when a magpie dies of gets married or moves on there's a re-jig of the territories and a fight will be arranged. This affects all the other magpies in the area so word goes around and they all gather to watch so as to know the outcome. This very noisy gathering is called a parliament of magpies.

 

[Archie_tect]

Sound like a plan...

 

[Saddle bum]

Vermin.

 

[pauldavid]

Fact: magpies are very territorial and when a magpie dies of gets married or moves on there's a re-jig of the territories and a fight will be arranged. This affects all the other magpies in the area so word goes around and they all gather to watch so as to know the outcome. This very noisy gathering is called a parliament of magpies.

You seem to have mixed up magpies and gypsies!

 

[Andy_R]

They are also relatively easy to "tame" in that if you feed them regularly, they will begin to recognise you and will eventually come close enough to take food from your hand. Make sure you count your fingers afterwards though.

 

[Mange-tout]

I like them. Small birds have survived their attentions for a long time. It's humans do the worst damage.
.

Yes us humans do cause the worst damage, but I'm currently not the best of friends (to put it lightly) with the black cat that lives across the road. He has caught 3 large birds in our garden this week, a woodpigeon, a collared dove that I caught it taunting even when it was half dead , and today I can only see some feathers around the feeder. I've trimmed back bushes so there's no hiding place for the cat and moved the ground feeder to the middle of the garden but still the birds aren't safe from the *loody cat. Wish all cat owners would stick bells on the collars - would give the birds at least some warning.

 

[longers]

I think I prefer Jackdaws.

I'm guessing I saw a parliament once, proper eerie. Very moody day and maybe thirty magpies in attendance, each in their own five foot tree on a patch that looked like no mans land might have; if they'd had five foot trees in the war.
I'd have stayed to watch the scrap if I'd known it was going to kick off.

 

[laurence]

magpies are nice.

breeding pairs need a certain sized territory, which means no other magpies are allowed in that area. if a large tiding does not have enough area to breed, some will abstain and let the breeding pairs have a territory. the next year, should the conditions not have changed, then the previous year's breeding pairs will abstain.

before pesticides magpies were welcomed by farmers and the like as they eat a large source of food and like slugs and other 'nasties'. once pesticides started to be used, then began to eat the crops... and thus were persecuted. they then moved into urban areas... as jays are doing now.

it has been shown in tests that magpies (probably other corvids and species of bird) recognise himan faces as if they are treated badly by someone, they will remember that person... similarly, if someone feeds them, they recognise them as well.

cats, dogs and humans do far more damage to small birds than magpies

 

[atbman]

We put out wholemeal bread loaves this last winter on a large(ish) piece of plywood and we would have up to 6 magpies on occasion noshing away. The they'd be joined by a couple of collared doves about 2/3rds their size. One of the doves would then intimidate them off the board. Slightly weird.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Do they swoop on humans in Spring, like ours do in Australia? The ones here can get pretty vicious at that time of year.