magpie and blackbirds

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by birdslover

hi to everyone..just found a blackbird chick in my garden..i love birds so i took it in. Now i gotta deal with him the best way possible . Some advise please....would be great

To late now but in future please leave birds alone. You have potentially done more damage than leaving it. Blackbird chicks fledge quite young before they are dependent and before they can fly very strongly. The adults leave the chicks in different areas where the chick stays on the ground or in low vegetation flapping up into shrubs to roost on a night. The adults quickly return to feed it and can often leave it for seemingly long periods.

[sue1]

I also agree you should have left this baby, or at least shoo-ed it into some shurbbery. My cat almost got a blackbird fledgling, he had it up against a wall, and the parents squawking alerted me. I got there before he touched it, kept him in the house and got the baby to hop to under a tree. he stayed there all day, and at about 6pm the parents came and fed him. By dusk he had gone

[htcdude]

Originally Posted by birdslover

he was there all day>>he must have fallen of his nest ..loads of cats in the area and his flying aint at his best yet. .. i m here now,..how shall i "proceed"?

Hi birdslover,

You might this thread useful:

If you find a BABY BIRD

If I were you I'd contact your local Wildlife Rescue Centre and see what they advise.

Nige

[John B (NTS)]

Originally Posted by sue1

Wildlife has a dark side

I know it's right that I can't be there all the time but when I am, and see all this going on, I have to intervene.

I have mixed feelings about magpies... on the one hand they are one of god's creatures and deserve a life. However they are very cruel. I don't have anything against an animal that kills others to eat, big cats for example. BUT most birds do not do this, magpies do, and in a violent manner too.

However I would not see one hurt..took one to my vet last year as it was injured.

Cleverdogs, that must have been horrid to watch. Poor male blackbird trying to save his mate to no avail

Hi sue1

Just an observation here. Magpies aren't cruel. They have no concept of cruelty, they just do what they have to do to survive and sometimes it isn't pretty. They are very successful generalist predators - no more, no less.

You are right in saying that the majority of bird species don't go about predating other birds but you may be surprised at which species do. Most of the raptors (obviously), nearly all of the corvids, most of the larger Gulls, Skuas, Herons and Bitterns occasionally, and there'll be plenty of others around the world (Kookaburras spring to mind). When it comes to taking eggs and nestlings you can add several species of woodpecker (notably Great Spotted) and even Great Tits. You may remember that St James's Park pelican helping himself to a pigeon three or so years back. Coots and Mallards have been recorded drowning and consuming sparrows. Marabou Storks are avid predators of Weaver Finches and Quelias. The list goes on and on.

Every species has to make a living and protein is protein after all.

[broadbill]

I agree with the previous post. I think its wrong to label species as 'nice' or 'cruel'. Everything eats everything else in some respect or other - that's just the way it is. You could just as easily label the blackbird as cruel for eating an earthworm, or a song thrush 'evil' for battering a snail to pieces.

Having said that, I agree that it isn't pleasant to watch from our human point of view and its very difficult not to empathise with the 'victim'. Perhaps the best thing to do would be just to look away if there are aspects of the natural world that we find distressing?

[sue1]

It was me who said magpies are cruel, but I do agree with you both of course they have no concept of cruel and they are trying to survive.
I am very (sometimes stupidly) sensitive about animal suffering and as someone said, it is not pleasant to see and we empathise with the victim, just as we would the deer running from the lion. I have thought about why I said magpies are cruel, and I think it is the bouncy, upbeat way they strut as they kill, and the huge song and dance they make about it. Unlike say a hawk, slowly swooping down to grab a bird or mouse, although some may call them sly

Anyway I just wanted to say that I do agree with you, and it is survival of the fittest.

[anniekat]

sparrows can also be classed as 'cruel' - this year (on our nestcam) we saw a female sparrow squeeze into a great tit box. it systematically killed all the chicks (didn't throw them out of the nest). it immediately laid its first egg and eventually the pair of sparrows made a 'proper' nest, laid more eggs and raised their young.

i think the male g.tit survived because i could hear its distinctive call for days afterwards.

at first we were tempted to intervene - but we didn't. we presumed that the female sparrow was desperate to lay her eggs, and that she must've been ousted from her original nest as sparrows spend ages building a huge nest before laying their eggs.

nature can be v.cruel and it can be very upsetting, but it is going on all around us most of the time, isnt it.

[John B (NTS)]

Consider too the "Cain and Abel" battles played out every season in the nests of Golden Eagles and some other large raptors. Unless prey is so abundant that the fledglings spend most of the time either eating or sleeping the older larger sibling will normally set about the younger one with gusto. This usually results in there being only one hungry Eaglet to feed. When times get hard there would be every likelihood that both infants would starve, so seeing off the competiton is an effective survival strategy for the senior sibling.

As keen "Springwatchers" will know. Barn Owl chicks sometimes take this a stage further and simply "recycle" the smallest family members.

It's a tough old world.......