Flightless Magpie (1 Viewer)

[songbird6666]

My question is this - how long could a magpie survive that can't fly? I ask because there has been one coming to the garden for around 6 weeks maybe more, I can't exactly remember, and I'm almost certain it can't fly at all. I first noticed, because it didn't have a tail, and was hopping around from place to place at great speed. It's tail has now grown, but it still can't fly. It is very timid as they are, and as soon as it sees any movement from me from the window, it is off at great speed up the bank, and through the bushes. It can't get to most of my feeders apart from the ones in the lilac bush outside my kitchen window, or of course the ground ones, but it seems very uneasy feeding on the ground for obvious reasons. I was out in the garden the other day, and I noticed him speeding across the field alongside my garden, like roadrunner! What are the chances of it's long-term survival I wonder? And why can't it fly, it seems very healthy otherwise.

 

[steve_nova]

Ground predators unfortunately! Though undoubtedly a resourseful animal, it is only a matter of time I would have thought.

 

[ashrich]

Don't know about Magpies but we have a Jackdaw here in Hambleden that has been around for the past 2 years with a broken/dislocated wing , looks very healthy and manages to hop into the lower branches of the nearby beech hedge and clambers around all over the place . Not too sure what it finds to eat but all corvid family birds are clever and inventive and will use their intelligence to survive as best as possible .


Ashley

 

[songbird6666]

Looks hopeful for him then - he is a good climer, its amazing to watch actually, and the way he hopped across the field the other day was incredible, I don't think I could have run that fast, he takes the most enormous two-footed leaps, about 6' or more at a time.

 

[ashrich]

Sonds like he might do well then , as I said , corvid family birds are very clever , it'll probably roost above ground level so will be out of most danger at night and if it can get around like you say then not too much will catch it . Our Jackdaw always stays within reasonable reach of cover and hops across the carpark at the first sign of anyone coming , I see it all the time in our back gardens as well , a resourceful bird indeed .

Ashley

 

[songbird6666]

Thought I'd give an update on this. He/she is still surviving though to be honest, I don't know how. Still a frequent visitor to the garden and the spilled seeds on the ground. However, twice in the last couple of days another magpie is attacking the poor thing. I thought it had met it's end on Saturday, as the attacker chased it up the bank and into the field, and I could just make out it pecking at it,and could hear the flightless one screaming. I was really upset to think that it had survived all the cats that skulk around here plus dogs that run loose in that field, and then one of its own kind kills it. But however, it was back today, and again another magpie chased it, this time it came across into my front garden and out into the road, so I ran out and chased the attacker off. I can't believe how the poor little devil has made it this far, I guess it won't be long now though. ||

 

[Stuart Watson]

Theres one that visits my garden and cannot fly to well that is also constantly attacked by its own - they can be nasty magpies (nobody likes a bully), but if yours can come through this it will make him stronger. At least he`s fighting for survival- always means he has a chance.