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Magpies

GNC said:
I don't think cats can use airguns. I don't think...
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Amoradala2 said:
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
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I read a lovely story in a magazine recently written by a man who had asked a neighbour for advice about a magpie that was causing him problems. The neighbour would trap them in a Larsen cage then give them a good talking to and let them go. The magpie would then fly off and tell all its magpie friends to stay away from the madman. Far more effective than killing the poor 'pie and then having all its friends out looking for it. The man tried it and indeed it worked!
 
GNC said:
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.
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In fact she would have been much better off killing humans, by far the biggest culprits in killing off our songbird populations. And of course I am not advocating that ... well not entirely! ;)
 
years ago my wife and I rescued a couple of magpie chicks that had fallen from their nest. we kept them in a large cage but allowed them out an about in the house.

when we judged they were ready we let them go out of the window.

2 years later I was sat reading the paper when I heard a tapping at the window, I looked up to see a magpie on the window ledge. I opened the window and although it declined to enter it sat on the ledge for a while as I went to get sone bacon which I fed it.

It then flew off and I didn't see it again, I can only think it was one of "our" magpies paying us a visit.
 
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.
 
Coal said:
...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.
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A water pistol is effective. But I also use a catapult....hold on, hold on, before anyone gets all upset!!!. (And I know I'm taking my life in my hands here - as any implication that you don’t simply fall over yourself with sheer delight at the mention of a cat is viewed in some quarters as worse than an admission that you once joined ISIS and shagged a goat by accident while stealing milk from orphans and spray painting war memorials with sewage.)

...I also use a catapult loaded with old teabags, and find this very effective. Old teabags have the ballistic properties of a cow falling of a stool (even when dipped in pondwater to lend them extra weight), so you don’t stand a chance of hitting the poor dear fluffy wuffy darling cattie watties, but they do disintegrate in flight or on impact, causing a small cloudburst of tea in the general area of the cat, which effect appears to scare the living daylights out of the little fucke....little darlings.

I’m thinking of developing and patenting the method for military use. Let’s see them mess with MOAT - the Mother Of All Teabags.
 
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.
 
GNC said:
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.
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I reckon I've got some credit in the karma account, having once spent five hours walking around Birmingham on a Saturday night in the pissing rain looking for a vet to take in a run over cat that I'd picked up off the road. I missed the party I was on my way to and everything. I don't particularly like cats, but that doesn't mean I particularly hate them either.
 
Mr T-H said:
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.
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That's bizarre as I too greet all Magpies and Crows in a similar way. I'm guessing I do it as I realize just how bright they are. Also birds are weird, non-mammal, freaky little dinosaurs so best stay on their good side.
 
A magpie used to try to pull the polished knocker off the door across
the road the woman was constantly opening the door thinking I was kids
playing tip latch till I told here but she did not believe me thinking no doubt
that I had lost the plot. One also used to follow us around at work after
tit bits. We also have a wood pigeon here that comes into the conservatory
on the scrounge stands at the living room door till I get up the walks out
to the garden and waits for me to feed it corn, hedgehog come at night
and will take cat munches from your hand.



 
Mr T-H said:
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.
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The female is always the largest.
 
I have a million magpie stories. I suppose it's because I live in Edmonton, Alberta.
The magpie capital. Most people here find them to be annoying pests. I love them.

My first close encounter with a family of magpie was back in 2004. It was the first time I had ventured out there since my beloved little yorkie had past on. I no sooner leaned forward to rest my elbows on the balcony railing when a very large (freakishly large) magpie flew up and perched itself next to me on the railing about two feet away. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the tones/calls magpies use. They have what I call a pet/love talk they use toward each other. It seems to have a very calming affect whenever their mate has been squawking/screaming the distress call. It's very similar to a parrots chatter. They also use it when they pair up as if to say, " Hi honey, how was your day?" Anyway.... she instantly started to talk to me like that. All the while staring straight into my eyes. I was truly fascinated because it was as if she knew me already. I thought maybe I might be reminding her of someone else. You know what I mean, a case of mistaken identity? :dunno:

About two minutes later, a baby magpie came flying straight at me and actually bumped into my chest before righting itself and stood on the railing between the two of us. I froze when that happened because I know how protective they are when it comes to their babies. I thought for sure mom was going to attack me, but she didn't seem bothered at all. Then another smaller adult flew up and perched itself in the white birch tree directly in front of my balcony. I knew instantly that it was dad because they all greeted each other with that same loving chatter. I talked to them using a low soothing voice and they responded to me every time. This went on for about ten minutes. I gave them names, Maggie(mom); Mate(dad) and Pie(baby). Then I remembered that I had some fresh ground beef in the fridge so I went in and shaped three small meatballs, took them out and placed them on the balcony ledge. She looked at me and I swear it was a nod & a little chatter=thank you. She took all three meatballs in her beak and flew off, the other two followed.

It's kind of a continuing saga, but that was our first encounter. I really enjoyed it. :D
 
According to Wikipedia, "In Scotland, a magpie near the window of the house is said to foretell death."

Yesterday, Mrs. Tribble called me downstairs and to walk quietly because there was a magpie on the window ledge (one of the gang of five or so that frequent this neighbourhood) and it had tapped twice on the window. Ominous!

Or, more likely, it wanted me to put more food out on the newly-erected bird table at the bottom of the garden.

Edit : Informed this morning that someone I knew (ok, met once at a garden party) died. Friend of my mother's.
 
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The Maid and the Magpie
"A citizen of Paris having lost several silver forks, accused his maid servant of the robbery; she was tried, and circumstances appeared so
strong against her, that she was found guilty and executed. Six months afterwards, the forks were found under an old roof, behind a heap
of tiles, where a magpie had hid them. It is well known that this bird, by an inexplicable instinct, steals and collects utensils of gold and silver.
When it was discovered that the poor innocent girl had been condemned unjustly, an annual mass was founded at St. John-en-Grese, for the repose of her soul. The souls of the judges had more occasion for it".

(The Percy Anecdotes: Anecdotes of Justice 1821)
 
They also really like the color yellow. That's how the exterminator's lure them into the traps here. :(
 
IbisNibs said:
Yikes! Poor maid!
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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.
 
Bad Bungle said:
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.
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Yep ... and there's more ... Here are some miscellaneous tidbits I found via online delving ...

There were multiple published and dramatic presentations of the maid / magpie story prior to the Percy Anecdotes. The Percy "brothers" didn't exist; they were pseudonyms for writers Thomas Byerley and Joseph Clinton Robertson. "Percy" was the name of the coffee house they frequented. The extent to which their multi-volume set of anecdotes is or includes fiction is an open question.

Rossini's libretto was supposedly based on La Pie Voleuse (William Hone, 1815). Hone was strenuously campaigning for the exoneration of one Elizabeth Fenning - an English servant executed for a crime she apparently didn't commit. I don't know whether Hone's publication was a component of his Fenning campaign. Hone's La Pie Voleuse has the heroine saved at the last minute (Fenning was hanged).

It's unclear whether the version of La Pie Voleuse Rossini supposedly used (Caigniz & d'Aubigny (also 1815)) was the inspiration for, versus a derivative of, Hone's version.

Later variations of the same plot had the heroine(?) wrongly executed, saved to great fanfare, or saved but reviled / shunned thereafter.

The setting of the tale in Paris and the bit about St. John-en-Grese seem to have originated with Hone's publication of the story.

Finally ... There is / was no St. John-en-Grese. The allusion is apparently to St. Jean-en-Greve, which was demolished in 1800.
 
I assumed the Percy Anecdotes were just that, a collection of curious and note-worthy stories. I've been dipping into the books since finding mention of a local woman tried for witchcraft in 1759 and weighed against a Bible. All other mentions of this stories on the Web seem to be remarkably consistent with the Percy Anecdotes account, so either it acted as the original source or it was based on an earlier unnamed source. I must admit I want to stories to be non-fiction - there is an account of a bill of complaint preferred before the criminal judge of Rieux in 1580, a woman said she'd been married to one Martin Guerre. We have an excellent thread on 'Forgotten History', but I've been recently pondering on why some bits of history have not been forgotten - a possible fraud case from 440 years ago ?
None of which has anything to do with Magpies. Sorry.
 
Oops ... I forgot to mention this additional item ...

The Maid and the Magpie was a widely known poem and / or play by one Charles Moreton. There seems to be some uncertainty about its date of origin, but if credited at all it's usually credited to the year 1815. This work was apparently quite popular during the early 19th century.

This work states the maid's location as Palaiseau, but it ends with the mail being saved and therefore makes no mention of the alleged mass in her memory.

It's not clear how this Moreton work relates to the works of Hone and Caigniz & d'Aubigny.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22181/22181-h/22181-h.htm
 
Since we've touched on the meme of the thieving magpie ...

Research at Exeter University back in 2014 failed to support the notion that magpies are attracted to shiny objects and are prone to steal them.
Magpies '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. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28797519
 
EnolaGaia said:
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
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You know, the fact that they are self aware (recognize themselves in a mirror) and pick up new tricks constantly, tells me that the "shiny object" theory could very well be a learned behavior.

What I am trying to say is that birds do act differently in different parts of the world. I was very surprise to see how friendly and trusting Sparrows were to people, when I was in Hawaii. You can't get more than three feet close to one here before they take flight. Sometimes I hear them on the balcony and open the curtain to take a look and they take flight immediately. I'm pretty sure that these same or at least some of these same Sparrows migrate south each winter, so that means they're the same birds.

I can't remember if I shared this story or not but, there was kill order for Magpies here about ten or more years ago and that left a lot of babies without parents that summer. I took it upon myself to feed the ones in my neighborhood. I kept hearing this one bird that sounded like it had a cold or soar throat. It turned out to be a crow. I think it had lost it's parents because it was hanging out with this group of orphaned Magpies and it was speaking Magpie language but, of course, it sounded wrong because of what it had to work with. lol It had to learn or it would never have been accepted as one of the group and it was accepted.

I also had one bird that had started it all. I did relay that story here somewhere. I met the parents before they were captured. A few times Pi would show up a little late for breakfast and she would tap on the balcony window and when she saw me she would do that baby bird thing where they open wide and bob their heads up and down to demand food from their parents. I would keep a little bit of hamburger back for stragglers and that's how she never went without breakfast. Those were all learned behaviors.

Maybe there was a group of Magpies that did like shiny things long ago and passed along that trait to their offspring? Learned behavior?

Another example is a group of seagulls that exhibited a learned behavior. I watched a documentary on it about 20 years ago. I think it was around the Hawaii islands where the whales go to birth their calves.

It was a behavior that had never been witnessed before and never seen anywhere else in the world. The seagulls had somehow learned that these whales had to surface to breath and even tho they were being harassed by the seagulls, they stayed put. They didn't leave because it was their birthing grounds. Each time they surfaced to breath, the seagulls would dive down and bite off a big piece of flesh from the blow hole.

It was really hard to watch. The poor whales were raw and bleeding all around the blow hole.
 
Oh, then there's this...


Notice how the crow has a white collar of feathers. I know Magpies $ Crows are cousins but, could they interbreed?
 
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