Magpies how to deal with them.

texas star

Hi just wondering if magpies would have had their chicks by now.Noticed the nest couple months ago and the magpies are attacking all the little birds in my garden I feed.I'm thinking of destroying the nest but really don't want to kill their babies.Thanks

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

texas star wrote: »

Hi just wondering if magpies would have had their chicks by now.Noticed the nest couple months ago and the magpies are attacking all the little birds in my garden I feed.I'm thinking of destroying the nest but really don't want to kill their babies.Thanks

Ok, hold it. It is illegal to destroy their nests for a start. Secondly, this is Nature. And despite common perception Magpies do NOT have a detrimental affect on songbird numbers.

Why destroy their nest? Even the notion of wanting to destroy a nest but not hurt the chicks makes little sense.

Just leave them alone.

texas star

Great thanks I wasn't going near the nest if they had chicks in it hense the question.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

texas star wrote: »

Great thanks I wasn't going near the nest if they had chicks in it hense the question.

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. Do not destroy the nest, even if the young have fledged.

prinzeugen

As far as I am aware, Magpies are not protected. It is not illegal to kill one.

We used to kill an adult and leave the body out. The others disappeared.

Nests not 100% sure about.

Masala

Am I strange to say that Magpies are a very pretty bird????

I remember visiting an old mans house when I was very young and he had a pet magpie. He swore it could mimic sound like a parrot. He had it on a pedestal and it flew off and done its own thihing and flew back when it finished. It was free but still tame.... fastinating?0!!

domcq

I've two in my garden every morning making an unholy racket - I've no qualms about vanquishing them from the garden by any means necessary.

Del.Monte

domcq wrote: »

I've two in my garden every morning making an unholy racket - I've no qualms about vanquishing them from the garden by any means necessary.

Nature is awful isn't it.

Birdnuts

prinzeugen wrote: »

As far as I am aware, Magpies are not protected. It is not illegal to kill one.

We used to kill an adult and leave the body out. The others disappeared.

Nests not 100% sure about.

Magpies can be legally shot and trapped. I trap them myself all year round with Larsens. Very succesfull species exploiting modern town and countryside. I know one game club that removes nearly 200 a year from their lands and they just keep coming in the same numbers every year!! Big numbers in this country are also down to scarcity/absence of their main predators like Goshawks etc.

_Brian

We have a Larsen trap and find it great.

Definitely they seriously impact the numbers of smaller birds about and we had a problem with them stealing chickens eggs.

Birdnuts

_Brian wrote: »

We have a Larsen trap and find it great.

Definitely they seriously impact the numbers of smaller birds about and we had a problem with them stealing chickens eggs.

They are heavily controlled on some of the wader and partridge protection schemes. Had a pair raid a blackbird nest in the garden back in March. Thankfully they bred again in a different nest nearer the house and have just fledged 4 chicks:). Good parenting that since it appears they chose the second location maybe knowing it would be a safer spot!!

PS: I should add that providing plenty of habitat and cover will reduce predation of songbirds etc. by the likes of magpies, hooded crows etc.

domcq

Del.Monte wrote: »

Nature is awful isn't it.

Folklore has it that they arrived with Oliver Cromwell in Wexford.

Birdnuts

domcq wrote: »

Folklore has it that they arrived with Oliver Cromwell in Wexford.

Yeah - that famous storm is meant to have blown them in here. Until recently they were still scarce in Central and Northern Scotland, but have made big inroads there since the 80's

TresGats

Does anyone still salute them, or am i mad?

magicbastarder

domcq wrote: »

I've two in my garden every morning making an unholy racket - I've no qualms about vanquishing them from the garden by any means necessary.

Sounds like you need to get rid of that pesky garden.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

prinzeugen wrote: »

As far as I am aware, Magpies are not protected. It is not illegal to kill one.

We used to kill an adult and leave the body out. The others disappeared.

Nests not 100% sure about.

They may only be legally killed if a nuisance to agriculture or hindering preservation effort. Not because somebody just wants the little birds feeding in the garden.

magicbastarder

TresGats wrote: »

Does anyone still salute them, or am i mad?

i know a few people who do.

texas star

Scarlet Old-fashioned Clerk wrote: »

They may only be legally killed if a nuisance to agriculture or hindering preservation effort. Not because somebody just wants the little birds feeding in the garden.

Thanks for the help my dad gave them a good talking too this morning and they've packed there bags job done.;)

TopTec

Yeah, my girlfriend salutes them all the time. Her bleeding hand is up and down dozens of times each journey.
They are a nuisance in my garden too and are nesting in some big spruces out the back. Have seen them raid a couple of  blackbird nests and I had to chicken wire the old stone Dairy access points to stop them raiding the swallows nests. I also chicken wire the bird tables and the feeders to stop them raiding.
Having done all that I accept they are a part of the rich pageant of nature that visits my gardens and would never consider such traps that have been mentioned on  here.

TT

delboythedub

Scarlet Old-fashioned Clerk wrote:

Ok, hold it. It is illegal to destroy their nests for a start. Secondly, this is Nature. And despite common perception Magpies do NOT have a detrimental affect on songbird numbers.

Don't know where you got that theory( birdwatch Ireland ??) , there's hardly a bird left in the garden because of them

Pawwed Rig

Did I read somewhere that cats are a bigger killer of songbirds?

Del.Monte

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Did I read somewhere that cats are a bigger killer of songbirds?

I'm sure you did, and let's not forget all those people who dose their gardens with toxic chemicals to kill every slug and weed that offends them.

Teyla Emmagan

There's a scatter of magpies around here, including the one who sits in the tree outside my bedroom and starts up with his machine gunning at 6am every morning. It's the most horrific sound. I hate the little git. I still wouldn't do anything to him but tell him to shoo though.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

delboythedub wrote: »

Don't know where you got that theory( birdwatch Ireland ??) , there's hardly a bird left in the garden because of them

I got that fact from many field studies by RSPB, BTO and several other bodies. I have been involved in some of those studies myself.

There's hardly a bird in your garden for other reasons, such as the time of year, the cover provided, natural food and water availability, other predators......

magicbastarder

delboythedub wrote: »

Don't know where you got that theory( birdwatch Ireland ??)

sure what would they know about birds, eh?

magicbastarder

anyway, a quick google would have helped you:

To discover whether magpies could be to blame for the decline, the RSPB commissioned the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to analyse its 35 years of bird monitoring records.

The study found that songbird numbers were no different in places where there were many magpies from where there are few. It found no evidence that increased numbers of magpies have caused declines in songbirds and confirms that populations of prey species are not determined by the numbers of their predators. Availability of food and suitable nesting sites are probably the main factors limiting songbird populations.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/m/magpie/effect_on_songbirds.aspx

Mountainsandh

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

There's a scatter of magpies around here, including the one who sits in the tree outside my bedroom and starts up with his machine gunning at 6am every morning. It's the most horrific sound. I hate the little git. I still wouldn't do anything to him but tell him to shoo though.

I love-hate the sound !
I would really miss it if it wasn't there but some days they do my head in.

I'm very rural, and have lots of songbirds as well as lots of magpies around my garden. I don't encourage the songbirds too much as I've a cat, but they're very obviously there, magpies or not.

The magpies are very handy for getting rid of food I would prefer not to have in my compost bin, namely cat food. I just leave the bowl out and they do their job, we have a good understanding.

They don't multiply either. There's just a couple around for years.

They're a bit greedy when I feed the little birds in winter alright, but they seem to prefer chunkier food, so I put the chunky out in the usual spot, and small bits elsewhere for the little birds, and the winter-cafeteria works well that way.

Eyepatch

Mountainsandh wrote: »

I love-hate the sound !
I would really miss it if it wasn't there but some days they do my head in.

I'm very rural, and have lots of songbirds as well as lots of magpies around my garden. I don't encourage the songbirds too much as I've a cat, but they're very obviously there, magpies or not.

The magpies are very handy for getting rid of food I would prefer not to have in my compost bin, namely cat food. I just leave the bowl out and they do their job, we have a good understanding.

They don't multiply either. There's just a couple around for years.

They're a bit greedy when I feed the little birds in winter alright, but they seem to prefer chunkier food, so I put the chunky out in the usual spot, and small bits elsewhere for the little birds, and the winter-cafeteria works well that way.

Exactly the same with me! My cat is picky and only eats half of her food. I have a separate table in the garden for the magpies. They are down like a shot at the sound of the dish clicking on the table.

Rather than tackling small birds, they seem to have an ongoing battle with other larger birds, such as pigeons and hooded crows.

I love to watch their shenanigans. They are very pretty birds, seen close up.

recedite

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

one who sits in the tree outside my bedroom and starts up with his machine gunning at 6am every morning.

That's him begging for his breakfast. They'll make that sound while squatting down and holding their wings slightly out as an impersonation of a chick in the nest. But at this stage the "chick" would be flying around and as big as his parents, so he is just being a bit of a chancer.
I find when you get to know the various sounds a bit, and see what is going on, they are less annoying and more interesting.

Storm 10

I have two Magpies who come into the garden on almost a daily basis, I have the nut feeder hanging there and the birds feeding on it while the two Magpies wander around the grass looking for worms, I have never seen them have a go at the small birds, they just come and go and sometimes sit on the wall for a while and then gone.

fritzelly

Sorry to semi necro a thread. Used to have lots of thrushes, blue tits etc in the garden, even had a blackbird nesting before summer.
But the magpies seem to have taken over the place, all the songbirds have disappeared, the blackbird abandoned the nest (used to have one that always came around on Sunday for a bath in the fountain and a feed - I kid you not)
The magpies are always squawking around on the roof and walls

Have they scared off all the smaller birds, been very very quiet over the "summer". Find the noise they make very annoying comparing to the tweeting of the small birds that you could listen to for hours
(this is in the city center)

double edit
even the pigeons have been less in number - they were always try to get in to the feeders with hilarious results

vandriver

Lots of birds disappear from gardens in the summer,because of many different food sources available.
They'll be back when food gets scarce if you fill your feeders.

Storm 10

vandriver wrote: »

Lots of birds disappear from gardens in the summer,because of many different food sources available.
They'll be back when food gets scarce if you fill your feeders.

Your correct there I thought all the Blue Tits and Finches that used to come into the Garden were gone, I had a few Magpies as well I live in Galway City but on Monday I looked out and there were Blue Tits back on the feeder despite the Magpies siting on the roof, I have seen two finches as well so hopefully they are back again. The Tits were going in and out of the bird house as well so fingers crossed.

Eyepatch

I'm noticing the small birds, such as robins, sparrows, blue tits etc. are feeding from the feeders at the same time as the larger birds such as pigeons, crows and even magpies. They don't seem to be afraid of them in the least. If those larger birds were predators of smaller birds, surely the smaller birds would be afraid and not come near when the large ones are feeding.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

There seems to be an assumption that Magpies are a predator of small garden birds, on a par with Sparrowhawks. They take some eggs and young birds at breeding time but it is not significant and do not generally prey on smaller birds the rest of the year. Invertebrates, worms, fruits, carrion, flies, leatherjackets etc are their preferred foods.

Storm 10

Actually its quite funny watching the Magpies and Crows hanging onto the feeder trying to get the nuts while its swinging wildly around.

Del.Monte

Just to be pedantic, while Magpies aren't black they are also crows.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Del.Monte wrote: »

Just to be pedantic, while Magpies aren't black they are also crows.

Likewise, Jay are corvoids/crows and far from black either.

Mountainsandh

Little songbirds are less visible in my garden too at the moment, but there is such an abundance of (red mostly) berries I think they're just gorging themselves out in the bushes, they don't need to hop around in hope I dish out something.
Actually, the magpies too are busy somewhere else right now.

They'll all be back after the berries run out I bet.

Oh, I just realized I think my sparrows are gone !

fritzelly

Strangely enough the magpies have moved on and have started getting Robins and thrushes in the garden

Coincidence, I think not...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

fritzelly wrote: »

Strangely enough the magpies have moved on and have started getting Robins and thrushes in the garden

Coincidence, I think not...

Sorry, but it is almost certainly a coincidence of seasonal variations.