Coal
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airgunand rats,
airgunand rats,
Magpies do show concern and try to help other Magpies captured in the sadly (and incredibly) totally legal 'Larson Trap cages' that can be frequently seen throughout the UK countryside
She said she was protecting the small bird population, in which case she'd have been far better off killing cats. Not that I advocate that either, I hasten to add.
...Me neither, but the effect on bird-life needs to be discussed openly. We have to 'gate' our garage door this time of the year due to robins and blue tits finding handy places to nest inside. The local cats otherwise get in and pick off the birds. 'Active cat' control is frowned upon (although a high pressure water pistol is effective and mostly harmless. I'd personally like to see it mandatory for cats to have very jingly collars.
It'll be interesting to see if anyone is brave enough to press the "Like" button on the above post. My sister would put a contract out on Spookdaddy for such perceived blasphemy, for instance.
Just to add to this fascinating collection of weird things we do around magpies- my lifelong response to them requires no saluting, but I have to say "Hello Mr Magpie, how's your wife?" to the first one I see. The next one gets "Hello MRS Magpie, hows your husband?", and then it goes back to Mr. This must be said, in order, to all the ones I can see... which is sometimes a bit annoying.
Not sure if this is a hangover from something explained to me as a child, or evidence of OCD.
Just to add to this fascinating collection of weird things we do around magpies- my lifelong response to them requires no saluting, but I have to say "Hello Mr Magpie, how's your wife?" to the first one I see. The next one gets "Hello MRS Magpie, hows your husband?", and then it goes back to Mr. This must be said, in order, to all the ones I can see... which is sometimes a bit annoying.
Not sure if this is a hangover from something explained to me as a child, or evidence of OCD.
Yikes! Poor maid!
Curiously I've just read that the libretto of Rossini's opera La Gazza Ladra (The thieving magpie), which features a servant girl sentenced to death for a series of silver thefts actually committed by a magpie, was first performed in 1817 - only a few years before the Percy book.
FULL STORY: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28797519Magpies 'don't steal shiny objects'
Magpies do not steal trinkets and are positively scared of shiny objects, according to new research.
The study appears to refute the myth of the “thieving magpie”, which pervades European folklore.
It is widely believed that magpies have a compulsive urge to steal sparkly things for their nests.
But Exeter University scientists show that the birds are actually nervous of such objects, presumably because they are novel and may prove dangerous.
The study involved a pile of shiny items (metal screws, small foil rings, and a small rectangular piece of aluminium foil), and a pile of the same objects covered with matt blue paint.
Researchers placed mounds of edible nuts just 30cm away from each of the collected objects. In 64 tests during feeding, magpies picked up a shiny object only twice - and discarded it immediately.
The birds essentially ignored or avoided both shiny and blue objects, and often fed less when they were present.
Lead author Dr Toni Shephard said: “We did not find evidence of an unconditional attraction to shiny objects in magpies. Instead, all objects prompted responses indicating neophobia – fear of new things. ...
The scientists – psychologists from the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) - undertook the study after an internet search uncovered just two published accounts of magpies actually stealing shiny things: a missing engagement ring found in a nest in 2008, and a magpie in Rochdale stealing keys, coins, and a spanner from an automotive garage a year earlier. ...
The test may challenge the Collins English Dictionary definition of the magpie as "a person who hoards small objects".
It may prompt calls for a belated revision of the libretto of Rossini's opera La Gazza Ladra (The thieving magpie), which features a servant girl sentenced to death for a series of silver thefts actually committed by a magpie.
It may upset, too, the publishers of The Tintin comic The Castafiore Emerald, in which a prized gem is stolen by a magpie.
But the research is not conclusive – yet. Due to the nature of the test with fixed feeding stations, the scientists could only assess "married" magpies that inhabit a set territory. Single magpies without a steady partner are less predictable in their feeding habits. ...
For more details on the 2014 Exeter experiments, see:
New study takes the shine off magpie folklore
FULL STORY: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140815195902.htm