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Magpies

I once chased some magpies away from another one they were bullying. They looked like they wanted to kill it. It hid under the fence for a while then disappeared. It was pretty badly beaten and had no tail left.

However, I saw it bouncing around a few days later and continued to see it at intervals that summer. It soon grew some feathers back and seemed okay, /happy
 
Theres an empty Magpie nest in a tree near my house. A sparrowhawk decided to take over and eat the offerings there. The two Magpies defended until the very end before they realised it was useless trying to deter this larger predator.

I wonder what that means in the book of superstitions? :)

"Two for joy" was not the case here.
 
My local magpie gang were all mobbing jays this weekend. I've never seen 5 jays together before. It's weird how all birds will mob a jay but not so many bother with the far more common and rapacious maggie.
 
The other year i was chatting to my neighbour one afternoon when all went quiet apart from the cries of a blackbird who came swooping down and settled between two wheely bins near us. We looked stunned as he just stood tilting his head occasionally etc. We could have walked up to him and touched him and he wouldnt have flinched.

As we returned to our conversation a silent large winged bird glided low above us with a tailed rodent in its claws. The Blackbird stood for quite some time before he proudly hopped along towards us, stopped - tilting his head followed by chirps. Slowly, the area around us began returning to sounds of birds. The black bird turned, lept onto the lid of one of the bins sang a bit more and then flew off.

Nature is wonderful!
 
Mods please move this if necessary, I tried to find the thread about white owls being a portent of death but couldn't find it!

I'm reading a 1961 book called 'Historic Britain- Britain's Heritage of Famous Places & People Through The Ages' and I came across this bit that reminded me of the aforementioned thread:

"The Oxenhams of South Tawton were warned by a bird with a white breast which fluttered round the beds of those about to die. Two white owls perching on the house-top was a sign for the Wardours of Arundel."
 
One variant on the rhyme that my grandad used to say was:

one for sorrow, two for mirth,
three for a funeral, for for a birth
five for a wish, six for a kiss
seven for a secret never to be missed.

as well as the more common

1 sorrow, 2 joy
3 girl 4 boy
5 silver 6 gold
7 secret never to be told.

It is quite odd how there are so many variations on the rhyme.
 
The second version was made popular by the children's TV programme, being set to music and used as the theme tune.
I was told you should always salute a magpie when you see one.
 
It's odd how many variants there are with that rhyme & the salute .
I was told an old east end rhyme for them:
1 for sorrow, 2 for joy, 3 for a girl, 4 for a boy, 5 for a wish, 6 for a kiss, 7 for a letter, 8 for something better.

Also, the salute's seem to change. When I was a kid in Cornwall a simple "Good morning, Mr. Magpie" was what we would say, however, the further north I've gone it changes to "Hello Mr.Magpie, where's your wife and children?"
Anyone else know of any other magpie salutes?
 
I always salute and say, "Morning, Captain." But I only salute lone magpies. The reason I was told was that magpies mate for life, so a lone magpie must be in mourning for its mate. Therefore, you show your respect by saluting.
 
That's really interesting, Ravenstone, I was told that a lone magpie would take "shiny things" but two or more wouldn't and that's why it needs to be saluted (I guess if you're nice they might leave your shiny things alone! lol). Also, I was told that's why it's 1 for sorrow, 2 for joy.

Also, I tend to find loads of magpie feathers, but very few other birds feathers...I wonder why?
 
Cherrybomb maybe they chase the other birds away? Or maybe they are a bit slow and feral cats catch them? I know when I find lots of feathers it's the feral cats and time to get the cage from the shelter.- 7 so far this year and just 1 to go before the birds can sing in peace.
 
Isis177 said:
Cherrybomb maybe they chase the other birds away? Or maybe they are a bit slow and feral cats catch them? I know when I find lots of feathers it's the feral cats and time to get the cage from the shelter.- 7 so far this year and just 1 to go before the birds can sing in peace.
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What happens to the cats? :shock:
 
They are asessed and handled for a couple of weeks to tame them and desexed and microchipped and hopefully find a good home. This way they are not hungry and constantly pregnant and find a loving place to live.
 
Isis177 said:
They are asessed and handled for a couple of weeks to tame them and desexed and microchipped and hopefully find a good home. This way they are not hungry and constantly pregnant and find a loving place to live.
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Ah right....it sounded more sinister than that :lol:

"Fetch.....THE CAGE! Mwah hahahahahahah!"
 
Since Ive started a thread about Robins I felt the need to share an recent observation.

Before Christmas on many occasions when it was raining, two Magpies would land in my Elderberry Tree which is a fave haunt for many types of bird. Funny thing was the other birds didnt seem afraid of the Magpies and would soon perch in the branches bravely.

I found this strange to watch as normally all birds seem to go to ground when the Magpies comes. I found that a Blackbird or two would first brave the tree followed by Sparrows coming out of hiding. Both Magpies would then continue their needs and ignore the other birds - odd.

The only regulars that kept away where Pigeons and Doves.
 
Thought I'd share a bit of magpie weirdness that I had yesterday and today. Last night at around 10:30pm I could hear a magpie squawking somewhere out back. It seemed odd as birds aren't normally active that late at night, but I suppose it may have been chasing off a cat or something.

Then, earlier today I noticed another magpie outside clinging onto one of those air bricks in a wall. At first I thought it had got its leg stuck or something as it was flapping around quite a lot. But then it flapped off and hopped about on the roof above for a bit, but all the time bending down to look into the air brick. Then it perched on it again and seemed to be sticking its beak through the holes. It seemed very determined. I wonder what it was doing :?:
 
Was there maybe some kind of insect inside?
 
Yes, probably a nice big fat juicy spider, they're really tasty I believe. :)
 
Magpie update! The exact same thing happened again today - not sure if it was the same magpie though. I suspect there are indeed some tasty things in there. That air brick must be a veritable spider supermarket!
 
We've had a few magpies hanging around the garden over the past month or so, and they keep tapping on the windows! Sure they're just picking spiders and insects out of the window frames, but it's certainly an amusing way to get woken up in the morning :D

They're very jumpy and fly off the minute they spot me watching out the window, but I too have noticed that they seem to like hanging around with pigeons! They seem pretty good friends with the doves in the garden too. Think there's some sort of magpie and pigeon alliance going on :)
 
Went to a funeral this morning and everyone was sitting outside having a cup of tea after.
My friend whose mother's funeral it was asked me if I would sit with another friend of hers as she didn't know anyone. I sat down and soon after a mudlark which looks like a small magpie fluttered over to the table at which the woman didn't look pleased so I suggested we sit with the friends I had come with.
We moved to the other table and the bird followed soon after then started to peck bits of chicken from her plate. She fled in horror so I fed it bits from mine. Poor thing had a deformed foot and chicks nearby apparently according to the lady clearing the plates.
 
I was just about to resurrect this thread myself.

Anyway, I noticed this morning that the broken-winged magpie I mentioned back in April 2011 - and which was several years old then - is back again.

I don't know where it disappears to over the winter - magpies don't migrate. However, given that where I am is very high up for the UK, I suspect it bounces several miles away, and a few hundred feet lower, in order to avoid the worst of the winter.

Spookdaddy said:
...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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That was back in 2011. The hardy little thing would be doing pretty well for a fully functioning magpie - for one that can't actually fly, it's doing quite astoundingly.

(Before anyone asks - yes, I'm sure it's the same bird: it has a distinctive notch in it's tail, as well as the wing sitting out at an odd angle.)
 
Spookdaddy said:
I don't know where it disappears to over the winter - magpies don't migrate. However, given that where I am is very high up for the UK, I suspect it bounces several miles away, and a few hundred feet lower, in order to avoid the worst of the winter.
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I suppose it's a bit like wondering where robins go in summer. They are about, but oddly you don't notice them.
 
gncxx said:
I suppose it's a bit like wondering where robins go in summer. They are about, but oddly you don't notice them.
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Always have Robins here in the summer, you only have to start digging in the garden and you'll have one on the fence waiting for you to turn up a nice juicy worm or a scampering beatle.
 
Maybe it's just Scotland that has stealth robins?
 
gncxx said:
Spookdaddy said:
I don't know where it disappears to over the winter - magpies don't migrate. However, given that where I am is very high up for the UK, I suspect it bounces several miles away, and a few hundred feet lower, in order to avoid the worst of the winter.
Click to expand...

I suppose it's a bit like wondering where robins go in summer. They are about, but oddly you don't notice them.
Click to expand...

It's probably that you notice them more in the winter time, as they are brightly coloured against a grey or white backdrop, and there are fewer birds around.
 
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