Magpie on seed feeder !

[Jonny]

Saw a magpie on a feeder today. I have never seen this before. Is there anything they don't eat ?........................Jon

[cherrybee]

Oh wow you are lucky I have 2 magpies that occasionally come to my garden but never on my feeders.I wish they would so I can get a photo they are so hard to get

[Jonny]

I am not sure if it lucky or not, there are a lot around and I hear so many stories of nests getting robbed. Saying that I do like magpies and think they are fun to watch.
I was sitting in a hide trying to get a shot of some terns, when I noticed maggie on the feeder.................Jon

[Ollie]

I have seen them on the ground under feeders crumbing up but never actually on a feeder like your photo. They never hang around long enough to get a photo though.
Ollie

[wildone]

Here's one I posted on the gallery in July last year.

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...r-Picapica.jpg

[John D]

Although nice looking birds Magpies are a danger to smaller birds. Last year I was fortunate (for Blue Tits) to be around just as baby Blue Tits were leaving their nest box which is attached to my garden shed. Around 30 minutes before the chicks left the nest the Blue Tit parents started to become a bit noisier than usual and this attracted around 6 to 8 Magpies. The magpies started to swoop down around the nest box. On seeing this I positioned myself near to the shed but out of site of the nest box but near enough to deter the Magpies. After the last chick had left and joined the others in the nearby Hawthorn hedge the Magpies flew into the hedge in a final attempt to get the chicks. I still wonder how many of the chicks survived the first hour or so after leaving the nest box. It is well known that Magpies thrive on young birds.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Magpies seem to have a lot of enemys, probably maybe due to not knowing enough about them I like Magpie, yes they do eat young birds, but enough to make a difference??i doubt it.

Anyway, not had any on seed feeders, but during the really cold weather, I watched one trying to eat a fat ball, struggled at first, until it realised that by lifting the fat ball up and putting its foot on the mesh it was a easy meal very clever birds, and always looking for trouble

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by wildone

Here's one I posted on the gallery in July last year.

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...r-Picapica.jpg

Nice one...........You beat me to it Wildone. Just seemed a strange thing to happen, to me, but then nature is quite often strange, just look at Boddie.....................Jon

[wildone]

Originally Posted by Jonny

Just seemed a strange thing to happen, to me, but then nature is quite often strange, just look at Boddie.....................Jon

Best laugh of the evening.

[Jonny]

I'm in trouble now though....................Jon

[marie.w]

hi,
I don't know if we are fortunate or not, but we have had magpies nesting on top of pine trees outside our kitchen window for the last 3 years. this is the fourth year. every year they move along to the next tree. they start building in january and are busy every morning looking for large twigs. you can sometimes see them testing the strength of bits of wood on the floor before either discarding or taking to the nest. some of the twigs are so long it is quite funny to watch them pull/push/twist it into the nest. they seem to have every afternoon off until it gets close to laying time but they are always around the house somewhere, hiding and waiting usually, for the jack daws to come to feed in our garden and then they dive bomb towards them sending them away. luckily for them they leave the little birds alone on our feeders. if they didn't the tree they nest in would be cut shorter to get rid of them.
I have seen them attack and try to kill a collared dove, which I rescued but it died overnight anyway, and swore then that they were my enemies but they have such a cheeky character that I cant help but (sort of) love them.
my main concern at the moment is that as we have a lot of small birds feeding, there may be a lot of nearby small nests. does anybody know if I should put special food out for the magpies when the small bird chicks are at risk in the hope that they will leave them alone.
marie

[Gill Catton]

There is no doubt that magpies kill other birds as they have been doing for as long as they have existed, they need to to eat and it seems to be a little harsh to judge them on that need it seems to me. I find them fascinating so clever and interesting, they even wait for nestlings to be at their most fat before raiding nests, almost like waiting for a crop to mature. I love watching them interact I sometimes wonder if they are capable of some sort of rudimentary society - I hope to study them when I retire and measure their ability to learn - apparently they can be taught to talk.
They may not be pretty in all that they do but they're wilidlife none-the-less

[eeyore]

I agree with Gill, yes mag pies kill baby birds and take eggs from nests, but this is nature at work. They are only a threat to other species where other factors (such as man !) have pushed that species to the brink.

A few years back I used to work on a site where there were nesting stone curlew and here we culled magpies and other corvids (and foxes, Weasels, Stoats) to give the stonies a decent chance of fledging, but this would not have been necessary had their habitat not been so curtailed by modern farming methods.

There is ceratinly no need to worry about a couple of magpies in a garden situation, here they are likely to make next to no difference to the nesting success of the little birds and are certainly less of a factor than domestic cats.

[jerryh]

I like Magpies as a rule, but was not endeared to them by an incident over the weekend.
I'm usually relatively immune to "nature red in tooth and claw", but this time I intervened in a scene where 2 magpies were attacking a third.
When I came across them the victim was on it's back on the ground being pecked continuously by the other 2. I have little doubt that it would have been to the death. The attackers flew into a nearby tree as I approached, but the victim lay there until I was right next to it, then flew weakly into a bush. As I walked away, the attackers were straight back having another go. I ended up rescuing the victim, who had visible peck marks around the face and legs.
It seemed to recover some strength over a couple of hours and I released it, but frankly don't hold out much hope for it's long term survival particularly while it stays in the other 2's territory. In hindsight, maybe I should have taken it to a sanctuary.

Natural selection in action - except that I interfered!
Jerry

[nightshade]

The Magpie is an amazing bird I used to stalk one on a farm,if I carried a shot gun it would keep a tree bole between us and move around it working from top to bottom until it could fly away about 2ft above the ground with the tree as a shield,if I carried an air rifle it would work the other way leaving fast and high!
They examine the bird boxes everyday in the garden,the sheer temperament they can display when selecting twigs for nesting have had me in tears of laughter, I have seen co-operative efforts to the extent of holding "hands" to get at fat blocks,the attacking of fellow birds still intrigues me the one in my garden was broken up by my then kitten "Dusty"who landed on the back of the main antagonist and rode the much larger bird like a bucking bronco till he was thrown clear and the whole group fled calling abuse!
A world without them would be terribley grey!

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by jerryh

In hindsight, maybe I should have taken it to a sanctuary.

Generally speaking I wouldnt advocate taking a wild bird into captivity in situations like this, it is better to leave it free. Also because magpies are on the vermin register it is actually illegal to release one that has been in captivity even for a short time - this law is widely ignored but it is technically there none the less.

Its just nature and you don't do the species as a whole any favours by interfering to save weaker members. Generally the strong healthy birds will drive out or even kill weaker or diseased individuals, this might be distressing to see but this is no reason to dislike them, humans do far worse after all !

[jerryh]

Originally Posted by eeyore

...Also because magpies are on the vermin register it is actually illegal to release one that has been in captivity even for a short time - this law is widely ignored but it is technically there none the less.

Thanks for that point, eeyore - not something I'd considered.

Originally Posted by eeyore

Its just nature and you don't do the species as a whole any favours by interfering to save weaker members.

Indeed, but I didn't interfere for the benefit of the species. I acted for the individual on it's back being pecked to death - and I make no apology for that.

Jerry

[Jonny]

Jerry.........I have to say, I would of done as you did in that situation. I don't mind when something is killed outright, but I cannot sit by and see something killed slowly. I know that corvids have a bad press, but I have to say I like them, no matter what, even though some magpies raided a long tailed tit nest (which is my favourite small bird) that I was watching. They were only doing what nature intended................Jon

[Tragus]

Originally Posted by eeyore

Generally speaking I wouldnt advocate taking a wild bird into captivity in situations like this, it is better to leave it free. Also because magpies are on the vermin register it is actually illegal to release one that has been in captivity even for a short time - this law is widely ignored but it is technically there none the less.

Its just nature and you don't do the species as a whole any favours by interfering to save weaker members. Generally the strong healthy birds will drive out or even kill weaker or diseased individuals, this might be distressing to see but this is no reason to dislike them, humans do far worse after all !

Eeyore it is not an offence to release a Magpie back into the wild. There is a page I would like you to read which states that there is also no such thing as a vermin register as such...A wild bird is now classified as just that...

Definition of a wild bird
The definition of a 'wild bird' in Section 27 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 changed in 2004. A new Statutory Instrument (SI 2004 No. 1487) which came into force on 14 July 2004 means that a 'wild bird' as defined by the Act is now any species which is ordinarily resident in or is a visitor to 'the European Territory of any Member State' (of the EU). Previously, 'wild bird' only referred to birds which occurred in Great Britain. This brings the WCA in line with the EC Birds Directive and makes it illegal to be in possession in the UK of any eggs or birds of any species taken from the wild in another Member State.

Poultry or Game birds (see lists below) however are not included in the Wildlife and Countryside Act. A bird is only classed as bred in captivity if both parents were in lawful captivity when the egg was laid. Game is covered by the Game Acts which fully protect them during the close season.


With the above in mind, it is not illegal to release any wild bird once it has recovered fully back into the wild. There is one that we as a Rehabilitation centre do not release and that is Canadian geese.

Another section of the page listed below states that....

A person may take a wild bird if he can satisfy the court the bird had been injured other than by his own hand and that his sole purpose was to tend it and then release it when no longer disabled; or he may kill it if he can prove it was so seriously disabled as to be beyond recovery. Sick and injured birds listed on Schedule 4 should be registered with the Department of the Environment or passed to an approved keeper.

This is the page where the information was found.

http://www.naturenet.net/law/birds.html#top

Cheers
Jo

[jerryh]

Originally Posted by Jonny

Jerry.........I have to say, I would of done as you did in that situation.

Hi Jonny - thanks for that.


..and thanks, Tragus, for putting us straight on the legal position.

I still like Magpies, really
Jerry

[eeyore]

Fair enough, I had forgotten that the 2004 CROW act changed the provisions of WCA 1984. However a key point is that although anybody can take a bird from the wild for the purposes of treating it, you still require the landowners permission to release it on their land, and many farmers, game keepers ae not likely to give permission to release something which is widely still considered a pest species.

Another consideration is the consequences of capture/release for the bird concerned. It is prersumably being attacked by other magpies for a reason ( generally competition for mates or food), if it is rereleased in the same teritory these pressures will not have changed so it will either be attacked again, or having recovered its strength it will come out a victor in another contest and kill another one.

Rerelease in a different territory might stop thisfrom happening but as a stranger to the teritory it will be disadvantaged in finding food, and be subject to attack by resident birds. Granted the latter can be attenuated by a carefully planed captive release programme such as the RSPB did with kites in wales, middlesborough etc, but it is exceedingly unlikely that anyone can justify these expenses for a single magpie.

These concerns dont attach to most forms of capture/ rerelease for treatment where injury is caused my man, vehicles etc but they do to a situation where the individuals plight is caused by nature taking its natural course.

As I said in my original post I don't like killing things or seeing them in distress, but my point here is that by interfering in what is essentially natural selection in progress we don't achieve any lasting benefit for either the individual bird, the species at large, or the ecosystem as a whole.

All that not withstanding I still respect jerry for taking an interest at all, he was there and I wasnt so I have to respect him for taking any action to "save" wildlife even if in this case I think it was misguided.

[jerryh]

Hi Eeyore,
I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this particular case!

I fully understand your argument about nature taking it's course, and understood it at the time.
However, what I don't accept is that we should separate ourselves as human beings from the other living things all around us. We are part of nature too, albeit with an unequalled ability to think, change the environment, choose our actions, etc.
The ability to change the environment brings the responsibility for the stewardship of that environment and it's maintenance for future life on earth.
The ability to think and choose also offers the option to feel and act on an empathy for other living individuals of any species.

[/preaching]

Jerry

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by jerryh

Hi Eeyore,

The ability to think and choose also offers the option to feel and act on an empathy for other living individuals of any species.

[/preaching]

Jerry

I probably would've done the similar to you, act on instinct, I'm a big softy so my heart would've got caught up too. but then for all we know maybe the third bird just ate the eggs and or nestings of the pair in which case, at the risk of anthropomorphising (too late!!) you'd probably feel that the pairs actions were justified as it's exactly what humans would feel like doing if another human destroyed their family.

Do they have magpie judge and juries?

[Jonny]

Eeyore...........I agree with all you say there, but what I have a problem with is seeing something in distress, be it magpies, bluetits, next doors dog or a person being picked on. Something in me says go and help out, be it right or wrong..............Jon

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

anthropomorphising

That has got to be word of the week..................Jon