Yesterday I was making a sandwich at lunch time when an almighty racket ensued right outside my Kitchen door. I peered through the gap of the slightly open door to see two adult Magpies trying to feed a young Magpie but it was having none of it. The parents were really chastising the poor bird. Anyway they flew into the hedge at the side of my garden which was followed by continuous alarm calls, and attacks from the resident Blackbirds aimed at the young bird, they have a nest close by.
This carried on for some time and every now and again I would peer around the door to see the adults Magpies watching over the area where the young bird must have been (I couldn't see it).
The Blackbirds continued with their onslaught and it really was a fierce thing to watch and as time went on the Adult Magpies started to distance themselves from the youngster until eventually after a couple of hours I couldn't hear or see them.
I had been doing some work in the garden when it started to pour down and with rain. I quickly went indoors and stayed there for at least and hour hoping the rain would stop. At one point I stood in the kitchen doorway watching a few birds feeding at one of my stations in this awful weather. As I watched I became aware of the young Magpie hobbling to my left. It disappeared behind my car and I didn't see it until it came under the feeding station. There was definitely something wrong with its walk. The normal Magpie hop was substituted for a very clumsy jump forward followed by the bird almost falling over, almost as if it was drunk.
I watched the scene and noticed that the poor bird birds plumage was absolutely sodden. It was under the feeder for ages, something no Magpie would ever do as they are constantly on the move and very aware of their surroundings, and danger.
Eventually it hopped up into the trees and started to awkwardly clamber from branch to branch trying unsuccessfully to get at my feeders but eventually it settled on my fat ball feeder, only because there was a branch it could stand on that would allow it to feed on the fat.
Thankfully it stopped raining the bird was about 30-35 feet away and in the partial sunlight (the bird was mainly in shadows) I thought I noticed a growth at the base of the leg so I went for my bins and took a closer look. I was horrified. Not only had it a growth at the base of each foot but it had a toe missing on each foot and on the right foot the claws hadn't grown properly. This bird was in a real mess and not only that it appeared that its parents had abandoned it as we were now nearly six hours later and still no sign of them. In fact I never saw or heard them again that day but the poor young bird would give out a pathetic screech every now and again as if begging them to come back.
I watched the young Magpie gobbling up the fat for nearly fifteen minutes before it awkwardly negotiated the branches down to the fence where it perched for about another ten minutes before jumping off and onto a nearby bush outside of my garden.
That's the last I saw or heard from the bird but I am not hopeful of its chance of survival.
Below are a couple of photos I took of what I could see of the bird. The first shows the state of the plumage and the second I have heavily cropped to show one of the legs.
The claw at the back of this photo is from the other foot and you can see the difference in size and colour.
John
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