Magpies

Sonnenblumen

Whats the best way to get rid of magpies?

dogmatix

If you have a license then a double-barrelled shotgun should do the trick. A bunch of the little bast**ds woke me up at 6:30am this morning - a gang of them where having a fight. God, they are irritatingly noisy birds. I do like our feathered friends - but I draw the line at magpies and feral city pigeons.

I believe that the reason there are now so many of them around is that gamekeepers and others no longer shot them as vermin.

You could try trapping and releasing them elsewhere - but thats just moving the problem on I suppose. Or trap and "put them down". But some form of trapping would be your only solution I think.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

dogmatix wrote:

You could try trapping and releasing them elsewhere - but thats just moving the problem on I suppose. Or trap and "put them down". But some form of trapping would be your only solution I think.

Better read the WILD BIRDS PROTECTION ACT, 1930 before any trapping.

dogmatix on Pheasant or Grouse thread wrote:

Always nice to see a bit of wildlife...

:rolleyes:

Why get rid of Magpies? Of course they are noisey. So are House Sparrows if you have a dozen pairs nesting under your roof tiles. Magpies provide an important scavenger role in nature and are beautiful birds in their own right.

Kintarō Hattori

Yeah I'm not a big fan of Magpie either!!!!

dogmatix

Well I suppose it marks me down as a "magpie racist" I suppose. And don't forget those feral city pigeons - I hate them too. But I like all other wildlife. Except spiders - must add that to me list of bad wildlife.

I just don't like Magpie's - can't help it. Everytime I hear one of them chattering in the dawn's very, very early light my blood starts to boil.

But are magpie's coverered under wildlife protection legislation? If gamekeepers can shoot them then I would have assumed not. As an aside, I read somewhere they are not a native species - they only arrived in ireland a few centuries ago and have spread everywhere since? A bit like grey squirrels.

I'm not having a go at grey squirrels either!

Alun

Well, I like magpies ... they provide hours of amusement for our two cats who, when the magpies sit on top of our bungalow's chimney squawking away, then try to climb up the chimney to get at them

As for the 'native species' argument, if you go back far enough in time, then pretty much nothing can be considered native, including ourselves! 2 centuries seems far enough back to be considered well and truly Irish to me.

Mr. Presentable

From Birdwatch Ireland:

What is the legal position in relation to the control of Magpie numbers?

Largely, because magpies eat the young of intensively reared gamebirds, the law states that an authorised person may kill them at any time of the year or destroy their nests. An authorised person would be the landowner or someone acting with the permission of the landowner. The use of poison is illegal in most cases and is not recommended as a method of control for Magpies, particularly in suburban circumstances. Care should be taken to ensure that magpies occupy a magpie’s nest as they are often used by other species.

Sonnenblumen

nipplenuts wrote:

From Birdwatch Ireland:

What is the legal position in relation to the control of Magpie numbers?

Largely, because magpies eat the young of intensively reared gamebirds, the law states that an authorised person may kill them at any time of the year or destroy their nests. An authorised person would be the landowner or someone acting with the permission of the landowner. The use of poison is illegal in most cases and is not recommended as a method of control for Magpies, particularly in suburban circumstances. Care should be taken to ensure that magpies occupy a magpie’s nest as they are often used by other species.

Obtaining landowners permission should not be a problem, so, in which cases is the use of poison possible and what poison might be considered?
Thanks

Sonnenblumen

Bennett Sweet Satire wrote:

Magpies ... are beautiful birds in their own right.

A bit like weeds, an unwanted flower in the wrong place? Except nobody seems to know where the right place is. I must admit, I'm never saddened when I see a dead magpie.

andrew_ireland

:mad: Don't you dare poison the Magpies. Case closed. Rant over. :mad:

TBH there's no point in even trying to keep them away, once birds get used to an area- they'll return.

artieanna

I totally disagree with killing magpies with posion especially as it inflicts a cruel and painful death. By laying posion other animals and birds may pick it up.

What I want to know is......

Why are these magpies such a hinderance to you?

What problems are they causing that makes you want to get rid of them?

tampopo

artieanna wrote:

.

What I want to know is......

Why are these magpies such a hinderance to you?

What problems are they causing that makes you want to get rid of them?

I'm answering for me and not the other poster, they push other species of birds out of their nesting area.

Sonnenblumen

artieanna wrote:

I totally disagree with killing magpies with posion especially as it inflicts a cruel and painful death. By laying posion other animals and birds may pick it up.

What I want to know is......

Why are these magpies such a hinderance to you?

What problems are they causing that makes you want to get rid of them?

Because they cannot sing!!

BTW poison isn't necessarily cruel and painful nor is it utterly indiscriminate. Forget the dramatics, either stay on topic or start a magpie therapy thread.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

tampopo wrote:

I'm answering for me and not the other poster, they push other species of birds out of their nesting area.

Just shows how much you know!:rolleyes:

http://www.birdweb.net/magpie.html

Sonnenblumen wrote:

BTW poison isn't necessarily cruel and painful nor is it utterly indiscriminate. Forget the dramatics, either stay on topic or start a magpie therapy thread.

BTW poison is indiscriminate, as the poisoned carcasses then poison other wildlife. We lost a Buzzard here recently as it had scavanged a poisoned carcass.

The thread is on getting rid of Magpies, so I would have thought artieanna was right on topic.

Sonnenblumen

Bennett Sweet Satire wrote:

Just shows how much you know!:rolleyes:

http://www.birdweb.net/magpie.html



BTW poison is indiscriminate, as the poisoned carcasses then poison other wildlife. We lost a Buzzard here recently as it had scavanged a poisoned carcass.

The thread is on getting rid of Magpies, so I would have thought artieanna was right on topic.

The end justifies the means or do you think you should isolate each level within the foodchain? I'm looking for advice not a cause OK so if you think banning glue will prevent sniffers, well off you go!

artieanna

Sonnenblumen wrote:

Because they cannot sing!!

BTW poison isn't necessarily cruel and painful nor is it utterly indiscriminate. Forget the dramatics, either stay on topic or start a magpie therapy thread.

Number 1. That's a pathetic excuse to get rid of magpies.....
Number 2. Poison is totally cruel and painful (a vet told me of the horrid death it causes)......

3. cop on pleeeez:p

andrew_ireland

artieanna wrote:

3. cop on pleeeez:p

Where's the "round of applause" smiley?!

This thread must have been in the wrong forum and has been annoying me since it was posted. "Nature and Birdwatching" is exactly as it says on the tin- not trying to do away with our wildlife. Magpies are part of our eco-system and probably have been around for long before we were so what gives any individual the right to destroy them? It surely can't be their aggression, I've seen more Robins get nasty than Magpies!

We have a colony of about 20 Sparrows that visit our garden daily and about 4 Magpies- when the Magpies visit, the Sparrows move deeper into the tree and I'd swear they're laughing at the Magpies . All in all, nature is nature- it may look and sound savage to us but none of us really know what goes on in the avian society.

OP, no offence but just let them be, please.

Sonnenblumen

artieanna wrote:

Number 1. That's a pathetic excuse to get rid of magpies.....
Number 2. Poison is totally cruel and painful (a vet told me of the horrid death it causes)......

3. cop on pleeeez:p

My response to your earlier Q " well why are they such a hindrance etc?" Well for feck sake, cop on, do you really think someone would want to kill a bird because it does not sing!!

Your attitude is pathetically naieve and yes may be it is the wrong forum afterall.

BTW vets put animals to sleep(permanent) everyday and no one complains or are such drugs outside the realm of "poison"?

King.Penguin

Sonnenblumen wrote:

My response to your earlier Q " well why are they such a hindrance etc?" Well for feck sake, cop on, do you really think someone would want to kill a bird because it does not sing!!

Your attitude is pathetically naieve and yes may be it is the wrong forum afterall.

BTW vets put animals to sleep(permanent) everyday and no one complains or are such drugs outside the realm of "poison"?

Well you're obviously ignorant of a fundamental principle. When animals are "put to sleep" by vets its done in a way to relieve suffering, not add to it. When animals are slaughtered in the beef or pork industry, they are done so in a way that is "humane" that minimising suffering and puts no undue stress on that animal. Poison, like rotenone or rat poison, is one of the least sophisticated way to kill an animal. It will cause a slow and painful death that will cause the animal stress. The magnitude of this stress will obviously vary from animal to animal but I would guess that poisoning a magpie would cause it great discomfort and suffering. Secondly, this poison could easily find its way into the rest of the food chain (fox/dog/cat predation). By the way, I believe it's spelt naive (the umlaut is generally optional in english speaking texts).

(Admittedly there is some hypocrisy condemning the poisoning of magpies in one thread and condoning the extermination of wasps in another)

artieanna

[QUOTE=Sonnenblumen]My response to your earlier Q " well why are they such a hindrance etc?" Well for feck sake, cop on, do you really think someone would want to kill a bird because it does not sing!!

Your attitude is pathetically naieve and yes may be it is the wrong forum afterall.

BTW vets put animals to sleep(permanent) everyday and no one complains or are such drugs outside the realm of "poison"?[/QUOTE
SO, WHY THEN DO YOU WANT TO GET RID OF THEM??????
What is the problem???????????
Mate, You are naive to assume that I am naive....

Animals are put to sleep to end suffering QUICKLY & PAINLESSLY not to cause a long horrendous death............pl e ase:rolleyes:

MooseJam

artieanna wrote:

SO, WHY THEN DO YOU WANT TO GET RID OF THEM??????
What is the problem???????????

noise pollution

Hypnotoad

I didn't really want to make a new thread but there's a magpie sitting under a bush in the corner of my garden,I think it's only young(it's big,but its feathers look different).The tree where the magpies are nesting is just outside my garden so I'd say it fell out and into my garden.
What will I do,just leave it there?

crosstownk

^^^^ I'd say just leave it there - let nature take it's course.................

Hypnotoad

crosstownk wrote:

^^^^ I'd say just leave it there - let nature take it's course.................

Ah I dont want to just let it die.

artieanna

If you can watch him for awhile and see if any of its parents are feeding him or if he's feeding himself and also if he is injured.
If you think he's not getting food, buy some birdseed and leave it and some water nearby. If possible keep away dogs or cats and hopefully before long he'll take the plunge and fly.

Good luck & keep us posted......

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

crosstownk wrote:

^^^^ I'd say just leave it there - let nature take it's course.................

There's little or no danger here. Magpie young are fledging at the monent. There is nothing unusual in seeing them like this. Leave it to be fed by the parents and all will be fine.

Hypnotoad

It turned out ok,the parents fed it and it's gone now.

southernhunter

Magpies are vermin and I shoot them every chance I get but I do it in a humane way and believe that no animal should be poisoned.

Lillyella

I was hanging out the washing yesterday and a magpie was chasing a local cat across my wall, like hopping after him and making that ack ack ack ack awful noise, poor oul cat was terrified. There was another one on the roof of the adjoinging house looking on and acking or whatever sound they make.

I said it to my Husband, and he said only that day he had seen a different cat crouching in the field and two magpies pecking at it :eek:

We have some pretty mafia like Magpies round these parts.