Magpies, your thoughts

[Scotch mist]

I was wondering what people’s opinion of magpies are ?

do you like them / tolerate them / shoot them or trap them

being in the countryside, the locals here use Larson traps the catch and kill them

 

[Silver-Fox]

If there wasn’t any around at least my missis wouldn’t keep saluting single ones Oh Please! ??

 

[klaatu]

We’ve seen lots of Iberian Magpies on our travels in the last few weeks. Beautiful birds, love them.

 

[gus-lopez]

I like them. On two occasions at home I have seen multiple magpies & cats standing about as though chatting.
One of my dogs once killed one of 4 that were around our house. The other 3 waited patiently & attacked her every time she appeared for over 2 days .

 

[Armytwowheels]

They have their place in nature and should not be persecuted unduly. I like them, very clever birds.

Cats on the other hand, do far more damage to our wildlife and drive me nuts when I see a domestic cat hunting.

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[RandallC]

If it wasn't for the surfeit of magpies4 in the locale we would have lots of birds in our garden and sourding fields.

What do you do????????

 

[PaulyP]

We get a few in the garden now and again but when I go over to the local playing fields about half a mile away with the dogs I've often seen over 30 on there.
When I was a kid you didn't seem to see any.

 

[rangi]

On the farm the SiL , just before the start of the nesting season, shot every Magpie, Crow and Jackdaw he could see, because they would attack the cattle causing holes the size of the palm of your hand in their backs. Young Calves too.
The numbers of small birds and song birds he had around the place was unbelievable in the summer and autumn.

 

[movan]

If there wasn’t any around at least my missis wouldn’t keep saluting single ones Oh Please! ??

.
At least she doesn't salute, say, 'Good morning Mr Magpie.'... and then spit over her shoulder, hopefully in the right direction.

 

[tonyidle]

When I lived at Shap there were no Magpies - I'd never seen one until we moved to Kendal in '63. There were two in the garden of my parents new house when we moved in. I like any member of the crow family. I love to see the little gang of young Jackdaws (my favourite) that appear after breeding season each year. I don't understand how anyone can dislike any wild animal - they all need to eat. Even the ones higher up the pecking order. We were all admiring the pictures of young Kestrels a few days ago - they do a lot more 'damage' than either Magpies or Cats. As for Sparrow Hawks - they eat their prey alive. The local cats see off a few small birds - the pair of Sparrow Hawks emptied our garden of songbirds (and Wood Pigeons) for more than two years. Nature is what it is.

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[tonyidle]

On the farm the SiL , just before the start of the nesting season, shot every Magpie, Crow and Jackdaw he could see, because they would attack the cattle causing holes the size of the palm of your hand in their backs. Young Calves too.
The numbers of small birds and song birds he had around the place was unbelievable in the summer and autumn.

Similar round here at lambing time. Perfectly natural when you consider the damage they can do to a farm.

 

[movan]

I was wondering what people’s opinion of magpies are ?

do you like them / tolerate them / shoot them or trap them

being in the countryside, the locals here use Larson traps the catch and kill them

I don't like them. They kill for the sake of it.. biting heads off.. my baby white doves and baby lop eared rabbits. They attacked one of my friends when we were little.. Landed on her head, and leaned forward pecking her face. Her mum grabbed it but it held onto my friend's hair for dear life.

I rescued one not long ago. Then it bit me before it flew off. Huh.

 

[Mr Chrysalis]

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

and these 3

 

[MikeD]

Beautiful colours but a bit destructive.

Very successful bird though - I suspect they will always be around.

In our local nature reserve the local Sparrowhawk and a wild cat are for more destructive.

 

[Speve]

We’ve seen lots of Iberian Magpies on our travels in the last few weeks. Beautiful birds, love them.

I think you probably mean Azure Winged Magpies? Yes they are very entertaining aren’t they?

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[Carolyn and Kev]

Personally....shoot them!
A Pest and total disregard for anything else. Kill the young of many a smaller bird ( Or even larger if the nest is left open. )

Then again......Who are we to say wether we should or should not do anything about them? We cannot control ourselves! Look at todays news!

Kev

 

[vwalan]

Similar round here at lambing time. Perfectly natural when you consider the damage they can do to a farm.

its amazing how many young lamb have to be put down because birds have pecked the eyes of young lamb.
i worked in a local slaughter house so saw lots of the damage.
we can protect birds and kill other animals etc etc . it really is a sort of strange funny world we live in.
unfortunately the press etc dont seem to ever know the full truth in many things and unfortunately many folk never find the whole truth either.
it shocked me in the begining how many young lamb we had to kill because they couldnt see .

 

[JJ]

I was wondering what people’s opinion of magpies are

I hope they get slaughtered at least 0-4 tomorrow...


JJ

 

[BobtheBass]

Susan Stranks.............my schoolboy crush!

 

[Silver-Fox]

.
At least she doesn't salute, say, 'Good morning Mr Magpie.'... and then spit over her shoulder, hopefully in the right direction.

I’ll keep the extra bit of info quiet from her ?

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[pappajohn]

I'd shoot em, but she won't let me.
Just like the pheasant that was eating my newly sown grass seed, so I shot the bugger at the base of its tail. (.22 air rifle)
Never seen a pheasant run as fast as that one did.

 

[Speve]

Where we live out on Salisbury Plain there are large flocks of Magpies and I believe they do need culling, however we have a bird ringer that does regular netting in the area and this year there has been really good numbers of small birds recorded so it seems that although the Magpies and Crows take some they are doing well on the chalk grassland. A good hard winter will kill off a few magpies and predators.
Nature seems to balance its books on its own.?

 

[Clarky]

Good looking and intelligent birds but with evil intentions.

They will search out nests of other birds and rob them of the chicks while the parents look on helplessly.
Very sad when you hear the plaintiff cries of a blackbird who’s nest has just been raided.
They get short shrift in our garden.

Richard.

 

[DBK]

They have their place. Killing magpies because they attack other animals is a bit like killing lions because they kill antelopes.

 

[tonyidle]

its amazing how many young lamb have to be put down because birds have pecked the eyes of young lamb.
i worked in a local slaughter house so saw lots of the damage.
we can protect birds and kill other animals etc etc . it really is a sort of strange funny world we live in.
unfortunately the press etc dont seem to ever know the full truth in many things and unfortunately many folk never find the whole truth either.
it shocked me in the begining how many young lamb we had to kill because they couldnt see .

I've seen it first hand in the fields. As bad as a dog-worried ewe with its intestines hanging out. I have no problem with people protecting their animals whether pets or livestock. I object to any cruelty for its own sake and our projecting our moral values onto wild animals. I've shot a fox that was trying to attack my sitting peahen. I've shot a collie that was taking lambs. I love dogs and detest fox-hunting.

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[Potty]

Good looking and intelligent birds but with evil intentions.

They will search out nests of other birds and rob them of the chicks while the parents look on helplessly.
Very sad when you hear the plaintiff cries of a blackbird who’s nest has just been raided.
They get short shrift in our garden.

Richard.

Blackbirds can be just as bad. One near here killed all the young wrens in a nest. We don’t get magpies here. We did get lots of ravens until the seagulls drove them away!

 

[movan]

They have their place. Killing magpies because they attack other animals is a bit like killing lions because they kill antelopes.

Well, sort of.. But the lion then eats the antelope doesn't just bite it's head off.

 

[Mickey1]

Mafia.

 

[mike mcglynn]

The ones we have around here wait until I have cleaned the conservatory roof ,then a bunch of them arrive and pull loads of lichen up off the tiled roof and it rolls down onto the conservatory roof .

 

[Scotch mist]

Blackbirds can be just as bad. One near here killed all the young wrens in a nest. We don’t get magpies here. We did get lots of ravens until the seagulls drove them away!

do you mean a bird that is black rather than a black bird , in all my life I have never heard of a black bird eating another bird , I had a quick look on the internet & could not find any instance of this

Most likely a jackdaw, the magpies cousin

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