MAGPIES

[Placido]

If it's not one thing it's another .......

[Butterfly]

I saw a group of them attack wood pigeon's nest, killing one parent and taking and killing both nestlings. It was so brutal and nasty it left me feeling sick for days. So I make sure they know they are not welcome in my garden . I know other corvids do similar things, but magpies are really so vicious they stand out.

[Placido]

Wandered into the kitchen mid-morning and on the lawn were two magpies on their backs very close together, claws in the air, and another pair standing over them with what certainly seemed to be malice aforethought.
A right old telling off was verbally in progress but I think more than that would have taken place had I not been spotted. They all took off with much language from the dominant pair.
Not a magpie fan but I'm glad I didn't have injured/defunct bodies to cope with !

[Jacksparrow]

Wandered into the kitchen mid-morning and on the lawn were two magpies on their backs very close together, claws in the air, and another pair standing over them with what certainly seemed to be malice aforethought.
A right old telling off was verbally in progress but I think more than that would have taken place had I not been spotted. They all took off with much language from the dominant pair.
Not a magpie fan but I'm glad I didn't have injured/defunct bodies to cope with !

Extraordinary. I wonder what that was all about?

[Placido]

I reckon it was trespassing . Funny time of year and all that .....

[Butterfly]

I was walking along the busy road when I heard this weird sound coming from the side . I looked and it was a magpie fledgling on the ground.



I believe it will be fine (?) as it has all the feathers and its maybe just calling parents who are nearby? I followed an advice from proffesionals not to pick up baby birds if they have feathers, that parents are probably nearby watching. Not that I'm a magpie fan , but I wouldn't want a harm to come to a small defenceless creature.

[Jacksparrow]

I would think it had fallen from the nest or tried to fledge too early. As you say the sage advice is to let it be and let the parent birds look after it.

[Butterfly]

I went back to check on it later, just before the nightfall, and to see if its still there. It wasn't. I checked the whole area but it was gone, and there was no sound of it calling either, so I assume that the parents guided it to a safe place for the night

[Placido]

For at least the last week a magpie has begun to use the olympic-sized birdbaff as a toast softener .
Only yesterday was I certain that it is toast.
It drops the crust in the baff, goes away and returns about 10 mins later - this is an almost constant length of time. Where the maggie keeps its watch I couldn't say but it obviously has an alarm feature and keeps very good time.
It then proceeds to rip off morsels of water-logged toast, swallow them and so on until the chunk is finished, and enjoyed.
This is a new trick and presumably the same magpie each time.
Maybe the donor has stopped spreading Marmite on it .

[Jacksparrow]

For at least the last week a magpie has begun to use the olympic-sized birdbaff as a toast softener .
Only yesterday was I certain that it is toast.
It drops the crust in the baff, goes away and returns about 10 mins later - this is an almost constant length of time. Where the maggie keeps its watch I couldn't say but it obviously has an alarm feature and keeps very good time.
It then proceeds to rip off morsels of water-logged toast, swallow them and so on until the chunk is finished, and enjoyed.
This is a new trick and presumably the same magpie each time.
Maybe the donor has stopped spreading Marmite on it .

Perhaps a little butter could be supplied and cut out the soaking stage