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Magpies

From Hecate

One day he caught and killed a magpie, which, being magpie fans, did upset us a little, but we are also cat fans too, and unfortunately, that's what cats do and nothing will stop them
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There is something you can do that will significantly reduce the number of kills a cat will make. Buy the the cat a coller with a small bell on it. It won't stop the cat trying to catch small birds but it will reduce the number of birds it does catch.
 
Magpies will harry anything they consider "fair game", rabbits 'specially young ones,moorhens, ect ect, they can also take a dislike toward some speices,e g cats.Often they will "argue" with Jays , Mistel thrushes and squirrels, Ive saw a large congregation of magpies,jays,mistels and squirrels all having a go at each other,the noise was incredible !!!
 
I always wave to lone magpies. I have no idea who taught it me or when I started doing so, all I know is single ones are omens of bad luck!!!
 
Speaking of sadness/bad luck, does anyone have any other 'rituals' they perform when they encounter a magpie to avoid bad luck? An old friend (I picked this up too for a while) would salute the magpie. Odd thing to do while driving down the M40 I must admit! Another friend would HAVE to find and touch (earth themselves?) something green. Links in with what Greebo and Lobelia noted above.

Does it have to be a lone magpie?
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I was always told as a child that when you saw a lone magpie you had to 'spit' the bad luck away. But that because spitting was a dirty habit, we had to 'pretend to spit' ;)
 
one for sorrow, two for joy
three for a girl, four for a boy
five for silver, six for gold
seven for a secret never to be told ...

only someone told me that's a sneezes rhyme :?[/quote]

Sneezes - One's a wish, two's a kiss, three's a disappointment. Four's a letter, five's something better, six an invitation.

Anyone got any variations on this? I always thought that 'something better than a letter' was a pretty lame forecast. 'two's a kiss' has come in handy over the years though!

And as for magpies, in my obsessive years I used to see at least one every morning on my way to school, and would feel cursed for the rest of the day. I consequently despised magpies with a superstitious dread and have only recently been able to force myself to break this mental habit. Now I don't mind them - they're noisy and bullies to other birds, but I've got to admire their intelligence!

bob
 
Upon seeing a Magpie I still pretend to spit & then salute, my children find this very funny, while they make a circle with their fingers and I have to break the circle for them :!:
 
They've been gathering in the trees at the bottom of my garden today,at one point there were over 20 of them !
 
My in laws went away from the weekend.

A few hours after they left their next door neighbour rang me & said 'What are you like with big birds ?'.

I was trying to think of a witty answer when she went on to explain that there was a crow in the dining room sat on the sash window peering out into the street. I went down to see what I could do, but to be honest I was a bit nervous.

We went into the room with two big beach towels & I approached the bird, which was stock still, but looked petrified. I threw the towel over him & caught him. I could feel his chest pounding so I rushed outside & put him on the drive. He gave me a bit of a hard stare then walked over to the garden wall, hopped on it then flew off.

Inside was a real mess. Much bird poo & soot everywhere from the bottom of the chimney where he had dropped in. There were smashed ornaments all over the place.

Oh well at least the crow was alright.
 
Crow killing young magpie - with pictures

I anyone can explain what I saw, I'll be very happy.

My son and I watch our local birds actively, we are no birders, but we know all our local "inhabitants" quite well (crows, magpies, tits, pigeons - the common suburb wildlife).

This morning my son came shouting "Come quick, a crow is murdering a magpie!". Indeed, our local magpie coupe has young, and a black crow was literally sitting on top of one of the young and hacking at it's head with it's beak. The young was still alive and we could see it struggle. It's parents were making a lot of noise and attacking the crow, but it was too big for them. Finally the magpie was killed and the crow flew away. The parents tried to awaken the young and carefully pecked at it's beak and wings, then they just sat around and finally they flew away.

We were all very shocked. First we thought the crow would simply eat the magpie, but it didn't. Even the big local seagulls are not interested in the cadaver - it's still lying there. So food seems not to be an issue.

I made a few quick pictures through my binoculars - the quality is very bad byt it's good as an illustration:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/crow01.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/crow02.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/crow03.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/crow04.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/crow05.jpg
 
I've seen a magpie, do the same to a young blackbird, its parents and siblings frantically trying to lure the attacker away. Not a pleasant sight.

On a lighter note, I often see lone magpies hanging around with pigeons, what does that mean?

One magpie = sorrow + one pigeon = a bit more sorrow or perhaps a bit less sorrow. ;)

Those Old Wives don't prepare you for these situations!
 
It's curious to see how the story developed and it makes you wonder how aware magpies are of situations or if it's just hard-wired reflexes:

After the young was killed the parents seemed to forget and ignore the dead bird for most of the afternoon. But my son's saw two events occuring:

- The same day one of the young magpies saw the dead bird, went to inspect it, pecked at it, and then seemed to scare and flew away quickly.

- The next day the parents attacked a dog that came to sniff at the dead bird.
 
I have always been fascinated by magpies since the first time I saw them in Yugoslavia. They seem to thrive in urban environments. Living in New York, I've wondered why they occur in Europe and the western USA, but not in the eastern USA where most of the large cities are. Are the climate or environment so different that can't breed?
 
Think we've already got a magpies thread, maybe in ULs/Folklore - mods?
 
tuckeg said:
I have always been fascinated by magpies since the first time I saw them in Yugoslavia. They seem to thrive in urban environments. Living in New York, I've wondered why they occur in Europe and the western USA, but not in the eastern USA where most of the large cities are. Are the climate or environment so different that can't breed?
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The environmental factors in the UK and around NY (and the eastern US) are pretty much the same but between the UK and the western US, they are quite different. I have no idea why the US doesn't have magpies in the eastern US, either. I wish someone would explain it.
 
I had been doing relief managing at a pub in essex. I caught a taxi to get the train at pitsea as my boss couldnt pick me up that day.
In the taxi on the way to the station there was a magpie sitting right outside the passenger side window. It was so close you could see the blue in its tail feathers.
I responded with my usual "One for sorrow"
The taxi driver jokingly replied "Someones probably gonna jump2 and laughed.
We pulled up into the station and I went to purchase my ticket only to be told that the station was then having to be closed.
One of the shaken by standers told me that someone had just jumped.
I left the station and got back into the same taxi so that I could be taken to basildon and told the taxi driver what had happened.

We continued our journey in silence.

When I got to basildon that station had had to be closed too so i called my boss and explained what happened to him.
Everytime he now sees a magpie he swears and shouts my name!
 
volfie said:
tuckeg said:
I have always been fascinated by magpies since the first time I saw them in Yugoslavia. They seem to thrive in urban environments. Living in New York, I've wondered why they occur in Europe and the western USA, but not in the eastern USA where most of the large cities are. Are the climate or environment so different that can't breed?
Click to expand...

The environmental factors in the UK and around NY (and the eastern US) are pretty much the same but between the UK and the western US, they are quite different. I have no idea why the US doesn't have magpies in the eastern US, either. I wish someone would explain it.
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The species in Eurasia and North America aren't exactly the same.

"Those living in western rangeland appear shy of humans, but their behavior in the Old World is very different. In northern Finland magpies live in the middle of settlements and place their nests low." - http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/deta ... num=BD0032
 
I work in a country park. I regularly hear the magpies and the squirrels cussing each other in the trees. I've also seen crows harrying magpies in the air and vice versa. Robins facing off with a magpie (which gave in) and magpies killing shrews etc.
However coming from farming stock I am well aware that in the spring magpies, given half a chance, will take the eyes of lambs, blinding them. Thats why farmers shoot the evil little bastards.

Nice in cities, evil swines in the country.
 
Last year I heard a whole load of shrieking and chattering and, expecting a magpie-fight, I looked out my French windows as I was going to politely request they turn the noise down.

I was amazed to see a sparrowhawk sat on a freshly killed woodpigeon glaring at 2 brave magpies which were hopping backwards and forwards daring the sparrowhawk to leave its prey and come after one of them, presumably so the other one could steam in and nick the loot. It was most impressive and they didn't give up, but the sparrowhawk couldn't flex his claws at the time; so he just glared at them a bit more and on occasion plucked out a little cloud of breast feathers.

1 hour later - no sign of any birds, just a little heap of white feathers.
 
Sandi Toksvig on the skills required to snare a husband

In case I forgot to send you a card - Happy Chinese Valentine's Day or Qi Xi. Yes, indeed, it is the day when young girls across China demonstrate their domestic skills in order to snare a husband. I would be hopeless at this.

Not just because I'm not sure my heart would be in the husband-snaring part but because, apparently, the top skill required is melon-carving. The only fruit-related talent I possess is that I once got three cherries in a row on a slot machine in Blackpool.

Qi Xi is also called the Magpie Festival and it celebrates the enduring love story of the cowherd and the weaver girl. A young cowherd called Niulang was out, presumably cow-herding, when he came across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake.

Immediately, I think you can sense one of those tales that could happen to anyone, particularly when I tell you that Niulang was accompanied by a mischievous ox. The ox, the little rascal, encouraged Niulang to steal the girls' clothes.

Much blushing ensued and the fairies decided that the youngest and prettiest sister, Zhinü, who wove colourful clouds for a living, must get their kit back. She did, but Niulang saw her naked, and without so much as a melon ball to show for it, she had to marry him.

It turned out that they adored each other and eventually became stars in heaven. So far so good, but, of course, the goddess of heaven was furious to find a mere mortal married to a fairy. She scratched a wide river in the sky with a hairpin and the Milky Way forever separates the two lovers.

Once a year, however, all the magpies in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to create an ornithological bridge so the lovers can be together. Hence the old saying about magpies - one for sorrow, two for joy, several thousand to create a decent piece of engineering.

All this happens on the seventh night of the seventh moon, which happens to be tonight. The truth is I don't long to be one of the lovers in the sky. I want to be one of the magpies.

http://tinyurl.com/3d668z
 
Watched three magpies see off a fox this afternoon. The fox was one of this year's batch and once he'd displayed some nervousness they walked all over him, metaphorically speaking. Had his parents been around their beaks wouldn't have touched the ground though. :)
 
I love magpies, me. In reference to a post about magpies and Manchester much further back in the thread, where I live - a few miles outside the centre of Manchester - the most common birds, aside from ubiquituous pigeons, are crows, magpies and little pied wagtails - which are so cute it's untrue. I see them every time I look out of the window. I think they're all beautiful birds and I find the caw of a crow and the rattle of the magpie really nice sounds too.

I don't know where I've got it from but I'm another that 'salutes' lone magpies and, in my head, always wish them success in whatever they are doing that day. I've gone to great pains to disguise this as a spate of forehead scratching when with company.

If I go further into the centre of my town it become predominantly cheeky starlings though.
 
We live in a small valley that has vying population of crows. Top of the pecking order are jackdaws, followed by magpies, then jays. When we first moved in the house was virtually derelict and having the chimney swept revealed a palimpsest of nests going back decades. Our first opportunity to light a fire was just over a week later by which time a new nest had gone in.

This time we wired up the chimney and, touch wood, they have yet to break through. Not for want of trying and there's been more than one visitor who has questioned the strange noise coming from the hearth on a winter's afternoon.
The most obvious victim is a heron who appears to commute from two nearby ponds a few times a week. The displays of divebombing from the jackdaws have to be seen to be believed as the poor creature makes it's way between watering holes. There are some derelict houses nearby that are basically a jackdaw nursery and passing them is a scene reminiscent of Hitchcock.
The spats are normally between one species and another but on Saturday on the grass bank opposite the house a battle royal between two magpies took place that went on for over half an hour with no quarter being given. I first thought it might be a breeding issue (do Magpies breed in August?) but it seemed territorial and only ended with one limping away down the hill dragging a wing. Weird creatures with an uncanny ability to make you feel like a temporary interloper.
 
I have to salute magpies too for fear something bad would befall me if I don't. But only a single magpie, 2 or more don't require saluting.....

When I spoke to a friend of mine about this, thinking he's find it an odd thing to do, he said that he has to salute them too but he also has to say "Good Morning Mr Magpie" too.

On a less odd note. Some of my nuggets of info about them...

If you see groups of magpies, it's likely to be mum, dad and last year's brood - they all look so similar.

As for the pic of the crow attacking the magpie, no surprises there for me. If a magpie settles on a tree near our garden, you can guarantee that either the crows or pigeons will go ape and try to see it off and keep it away from eating their eggs / young.

With regards to talking, corvids can talk, probably the most successful being the Raven. I've seen one of the older ones at the Tower of London puff its chest out run towards other birds / people and say "Come on then!" in it's best mockney. :D
 
Magpies attacking lambs??

I've never heard such a think here in Europe.
 
I used to be pretty superstitous about magpies - if I saw one, I'd always look for a second!
But then, being a Newcastle fan, I thought they should always be lucky for me, as they're the clubs emblem! :D
Then again, they'rte not exactly lucky for Newcastle these days! :cry:
 
Magpies 'feel grief and hold funerals'
Magpies feel grief and even hold funeral-type gatherings for their fallen friends and lay grass "wreaths" beside their bodies, an animal behaviour expert has claimed.
Published: 7:00AM BST 21 Oct 2009

Dr Bekoff, of the University of Colorado, said these rituals prove that magpies, usually seen as an aggressive predator, also have a compassionate side.

The discovery raises the debate about whether emotions are solely a human trait or whether they can be found in all animals.

Previous studies have suggested that gorillas also mourn their dead while rats have empathy and cats form friendships.

Dr Bekoff said he studied four magpies alongside a magpie corpse and recorded their behaviour.

"One approached the corpse, gently pecked at it, just as an elephant would nose the carcase of another elephant, and stepped back. Another magpie did the same thing, " he said.

"Next, one of the magpies flew off, brought back some grass and laid it by the corpse. Another magpie did the same. Then all four stood vigil for a few seconds and one by one flew off."

After publishing an account of the funeral he received emails from people who had seen the same ritual in magpies, ravens and crows.

"We can't know what they were actually thinking or feeling, but reading their action there's no reason not to believe these birds were saying a magpie farewell to their friend," he wrote in the journal Emotion, Space and Society.

Those who see emotions in animals have been accused of anthropomorphism – the attribution of human characteristics to animals.

However, Dr Bekoff said emotions evolved in humans and animals because they improve the chances of survival.

"It's bad biology to argue against the existence of animal emotions," he said.

He also claims to have seen emotions in elephants. While watching a herd in Kenya he noticed an injured cow elephant who was only able to walk slowly.

"Despite her disability the rest of the herd walked for a while, stopped to look around and then waited for her to catch up.

"The only obvious conclusion we could see is the other elephants cared and so they adjusted their behaviour," said Dr Bekoff.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildli ... erals.html
 
I love magpies, beautiful birds. I have a regular couple in my garden. I never salute a single magpie but always feel i should! :D

I had a kestrel or a hawk in my garden the other day, it had a dead bird in its claws pulling the feathers out (couldnt make out what the other bird was), made hubby go out and "shoo" it away. It flew into next doors garden and carried on pecking at its dinner.

I didnt want it leaving the dead bird in the garden as my dogs would have loved the carcass :roll:
 
I have a tree full of magpies at the bottom of my garden. They can be rather raucous, but haven't been behaving particularly oddly of late.
The crows around here, on the other hand, have been really freaking me out by watching me as I walk along, cawing at me when I draw level and flying off once I've gone past. I like crows, but it does start to get a little unsettling when they start doing things like that all the time.
It could just be one crow that likes (or dislikes) me, of course...it's hard to tell with crows.
 
I had six or seven crows in the garden yesterday, they were all ganging up on one other crow, they seemed to be punishing it for some unknown misdemeanor, it finally flew off pursued by the others.
 
A few years ago I rescued a newly fledged magpie from one of my neighbours murderous British Blues. I hadn't realised, until it hopped off, that one of its wings was broken and I assumed that it probably had about a week to live before something finished it off. However, over the next few weeks I saw it regularly hopping up and down the road. By midsummer it could remain airborne for about fifteen feet - although, rather than flying, the technique involved was more akin to bouncing upwards a few feet and then tripping over in mid-air. It also learnt to fly longer distances by climbing very tall trees through a combination of hopping and one winged flapping in order to hurl itself off.

Anyway, against all odds the tenacious bugger is back for it's fifth summer - I just noticed it clacking away this morning. According to the RSPB website, magpies can live for two decades, but three years is a more realistic estimation in the wild. So this bird is already beyond it's life expectancy despite not being able to fly. Pretty amazing, really.
 
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