what do magpies like to eat appart from baby birds

[davejg]

they are always on the roadkill near work, I think they need the animal protien at chick rearing time.

[AngelGarden]

Although I do not reside in the UK, I have MANY magpies here in my garden all year round. Alberta, Canada. Most people consider them nusance birds here in the north, I think they are very pretty and very smart.
I feed them fresh bread ends mixed with canned cat food. They also eat dry cat or dog food , any kinds of nuts, hard boiled eggs, raisins and peanuts in the shell. I feed them usually only in winter although they will leave the other birds alone if they are fed. The small bird feeders are safely hanging under a large spruce tree and not bothered by the jays or maggies.
We have had record low temps. here lately so they have been exceptionally hungry. I feed them in a heavy lasagna dish on the fence and have already filled it twice today!

[Susie]

How about a different tack? What about putting up some secure nesting boxes? You can buy nesting boxes with metal rims to the access holes to stop attack by predators. If the access hole is small enough then the magpies (or squirrels, etc) will have difficulty in getting the chicks out and this would protect them until they are fledged anyway.

I had a nest of robins which was in some ivy in the garden which were being eaten by a jay. I despaired of what could be done to help them as one by one the chicks were being picked off. Eventually there was only one chick left and I put chicken wire over the ivy and around the nest. The adult robins could get in but the jay couldn't. The remaining chick survived to fledge.

Mind you, that was years ago, now I wouldn't interfere.

[wizzo]

"I do like magpie's but its the same at my Mum and Dads, every year the nestlings are taken by magpies or tree rats. Much to the distress of my mum.
She often phones sobbing saying another nest has been lost. My mum was anti culling anything but now would if it was an option. I am not sure what percentage of garden nestlings as a whole magpies take, but for the many species that nest in my mums large garden they seem to decimate their attempts."
Original quote by Colin

That's all well and good Colin, but what about culling birds of prey and any other animal that predates other birds and animals (including man). I think we're back to that selective 'cute and cuddly' issue again. Wizz

[Thistledo]

A pair have started building a nest in the tree in my garden, scaring away the little fluffy ones that I love . No amount of hand clapping etc has diswaded them from their efforts so I managed to get a length of string into the branch from the end of a long pole, when they come I tug on the string they soon got the message that I could reach them. So without any culling\stone throwing etc I have managed to get them to move on.

Please don't tell me I'm bad, they are noisy bullies and I'm glad to be rid of them, they can go do it somewhere else NIMBY.

Bob

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by Thistledo

A pair have started building a nest in the tree in my garden, scaring away the little fluffy ones that I love . No amount of hand clapping etc has diswaded them from their efforts so I managed to get a length of string into the branch from the end of a long pole, when they come I tug on the string they soon got the message that I could reach them. So without any culling\stone throwing etc I have managed to get them to move on.

Please don't tell me I'm bad, they are noisy bullies and I'm glad to be rid of them, they can go do it somewhere else NIMBY.

Bob

You may have done the wrong thing by sending them off .....

I had magpies nesting in my garden for two years running. Prior to that they were somewhere else but would come in to the garden to feed, and would raid the blackbirds nests. However once they were nesting in the garden I thought my blackbirds would have no chance. The male was in his third year, the female in her second year in the garden, the same pair. The magpies did not raid their nests at all whilst the magpies' young were in their nest. Indeed if a crow came into the garden the magpie seemed to take up a position between the blackbirds nest and the crow and wouldn't let it near, as if it was actually defending the blackbirds nest. However once the magpies had fledged and were no longer tied to the garden the blackbirds' eggs and young were considered fair game by the magpies. I can only assume that the blackbird presence was valued by the magpies during their nesting period as a useful set of vigilant eyes watching out for predators .... cats in particular as there were many of them about, and crows, so that they left them alone.

[Thistledo]

You may well be right, I can see how that would work.

Bob

[BlueJam]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

Its called survival of the fittest. Its how the weak and the stupid are weeded out of a population making it stronger in the long run.

QFT, its a harsh world out there, but without this the evolution of species would be far slower.

[twinsgran]

Yesterday I was shocked to see a magpie attacking a baby rabbit at the side of the road. Would it eat something this big?

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by twinsgran

Yesterday I was shocked to see a magpie attacking a baby rabbit at the side of the road. Would it eat something this big?

They could certainly kill it + then start eating it.