Magpies in garden - any advice appreciated (1 Viewer)

[subridle]

Hi.
I have been feeding birds in my garden for about four years now and i've never really been bothered with Magpies. Now I have a family of five in my garden and it's driving me mad. Nearly all 'my' other birds are avoiding the garden. I'm just lucky that all the nesting birds in the garden seem to have fledged already as I have seen them looking through some thick ivy we have where the blackbirds were nesting.
The magpies were having a huge fight in the back garden at 5am this morning and I had to go outside to break it up! They are very very loud. Thus I am feeling even more grumpy about them now.
The morning fights seem to be a daily occurance.
Has anyone got any suggestions of how I can get rid of them?
I'm just frightened of what they will do to any of the other birds really. I have heard about and seen them do some very bad things!

 

[Jos Stratford]

My advice would be to start to like them

 

[CBB]

I agree with Jos. I've got them rattling away just now. They've been here since I arrived. I do still get plenty of birds on the feeders though. Just keep feeding.

Chris

 

[subridle]

I have tried to like them. I never had a problem with them until earlier this year when I saw them take 5 baby ducklings off the roof of my work when the mother had popped off for some food. Since then I have just heard so many bad things. And read so many bad things on this forum!
My garden is usually alive with birds and since their arrival only get the odd one. And I am keeping my feeders full!

 

[Kezza]

If you really don't like them, try watching them and thinking about why they are coming to your garden. Is there a food source that encourages them? If so make it inaccessable to them perhaps using some plastic coated wire around birdtables and don't put large amounts of food on the ground.

 

[Helsinki Birder]

It really bugs me when people start going on and on about magpies.
I hear it all the time from little old ladies

"oh the magpies are eating all the little baby birds" etc etc.

Magpies are birds too.
They expanded their range from eastern europe over hundreds of years to be come the adaptable predator they are today.
They deserve to be there just as much as any black bird or song thrush.
Yes they eat young birds and eggs.
Sparrowhawks eat birds.
Yet when ever anyone has one in their garden the rave on about how fantastic it was to have a sprawk come in and kill a pigeon on their lawn!
Personally, I think a magpie is a far more attractive bird than a black bird or robin...fantastic colours!
Get used to them.

Pariah

 

[lapwing1]

And on another positive note, I awoke a couple of weeks ago at around 4/5 am to an awful racket with lots of hissing and squawking and jumping out of bed to the window I saw Magpies harassing a tom cat (who is a pain in the proverbial in my garden) across my grass, up and over the fence and off down the lane.

I bet that cat didn't quite expect to have the tables turned on him that morning and I couldn't help but think it was poetic justice.

 

[k-rina]

I think we should have some understanding towards the human nature. Maybe for subridle it`s very disturbing to have this kind of drama in her yard (magpies eating baby birds, etc). It`s like when you love cats ... you love lions (because they are cats) but you can`t stomach to see how they kill cheetah cubs. I don`t think subridle should have to be forced to accept those birds in her yard if she just doesn`t want to, so maybe some advice would be nice.


A couple of years ago a friend wanted to spook some common terns that were stealing food from his balcony so he bought a toy pistol (you know the one that sprays water) and every time a tern was getting close he spayed the bird with water mixed with a little lemon juice. He said this did no harm to the birds, but really annoyed them because they had to clean the lemon juice off their feathers and you know how that tastes. He said in a couple of days they had given up and didn`t come back.

However, if this method harms the birds, please say so.

 

[subridle]

Thank you for that! I have read so many things on this website from people who feel as I do about magpies. I really don't want to see that sort of drama going on! It's all very well people saying it's just nature but it's doen't stop it being upsetting when you become attatched and protective of the birds born in your garden.
I have just been home for lunch and there was one magpie there. And no other birds. It's usually really busy at this time of day.
Five magpies living in quite a small garden is a bit too intimidating for anything else to be there.

 

[k-rina]

But subridle, just don`t apply this method (water with lemon juice) until we are sure it does not harm the birds. If this does some damage to their feathers we should think of something else that will make them leave ...

 

[Evanji Axu]

I wish I has magpies in my garden. They are so much prettier than grackles.

 

[Jane Turner]

Thank you for that! I have read so many things on this website from people who feel as I do about magpies.

If you read through the entire threads you will find that starters of the theads receive exactly the same advice as you have done.

 

[subridle]

Sorry. Did not have time to read the entire threads. Just skimmed through what I could. And I won't fire lemon juice at them until I have looked up what it could do. I think the rspb may have the best advice
I might try this first
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/unwantedvisitors/deterrents/magpie_deterrents.asp
And I'm quite surprised at what the law about them is.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/unwantedvisitors/magpies/law.asp

 

[Jos Stratford]

I really don't want to see that sort of drama going on! It's all very well people saying it's just nature but it's doen't stop it being upsetting when you become attatched and protective of the birds born in your garden.

Though you might not want to see it and though it might upset you, does it really mean you should start being picky when choosing which elements of the natural avifauna are to be allowed to make home in the (unnatural) settings of suburbia? Magpies' only crime is to be one of the more successful elements of suburban birdlife - there is also no evidence that over the long-term it is affecting other bird populations on a nationwide scale. If you are providing a variety of feeders, including hanging feeders, then I would be most surprised if all other birds are being driven away.

I personally wouldn't want to start down the road 'I don't want that species because...'

 

[David FG]

I have tried to like them. I never had a problem with them until earlier this year when I saw them take 5 baby ducklings off the roof of my work when the mother had popped off for some food. Since then I have just heard so many bad things. And read so many bad things on this forum!
My garden is usually alive with birds and since their arrival only get the odd one. And I am keeping my feeders full!

So you don't like the fact that Magpies can and do predate other birds? Do you dislike Owls, Falcons, Hawks and Eagles too?

There are many (I would say probably most) people on BF who are very interested in Butterflies and other insects. Should they wage all out war on those bird species that eat them? You wouldn't be left with many bird visitors at all.

As you might have guessed, I have little tolerance for this form of avian apartheid.

 

[Mary Evelyn]

Thank you for that! I have read so many things on this website from people who feel as I do about magpies. I really don't want to see that sort of drama going on! It's all very well people saying it's just nature but it's doen't stop it being upsetting when you become attatched and protective of the birds born in your garden.
I have just been home for lunch and there was one magpie there. And no other birds. It's usually really busy at this time of day.
Five magpies living in quite a small garden is a bit too intimidating for anything else to be there.

The Magpie is a beautiful bird and does what it needs to survive but like you i wouldn't like 5 in a small garden.They are so profuse here and not well thought of either.However,i feed all the birds and the Magpies too.In the main,they pop in, take their treat ( meat) and leave.This keeps them happy most of the year and away from other birds.However,i do know how you feel as i too do not wish to see, or get a thrill from a kill.I think other members should sometimes realise, that it is not so much the killing,as we know it happens but in seeing it.That's the difference.You are not alone.

Still,i have a good input of birds,

Keep trucking :loveme:

 

[deborah4]

To be honest, I'm not selective with my garden birds - have an abundance of herring gulls, pigeons and squirrels as well as a few neighbourhood cats so can't afford to be! Even so, they have to set up home somewhere and i would rather it was in my garden at the expense of a few songbirds than somewhere else where they might be shot - that I would find more distressing than seeing a natural kill.

 

[Keith Reeder]

In truth Sunbridle (and I'm not having a go, merely stating a reality) you are unlikely to get much in the way of positivity to your question on a forum which exists to celebrate wild birds, whatever they are.

I'm afraid I agree with those posters who find your question rather distasteful.

Yes, we get regularly such queries: and yes, they usually get rather short shrift - you can't reasonably expect anything else.

If you want to get rid magpies, concrete over the garden, put a roof on it, and use it as a place to park your car: otherwise, accept the magpies for what they are and learn to live with them.

 

[subridle]

Thanks for your responses! Just to say that I work hard keeping my garden very bird and animal friendly and have done for four years. All other animals (except cats) and insects are welcome. Sorry, but you are not going to change my mind about the magpies. There is nothing wrong with wanting to protect my little reserve and try to keep all the other birds safe. It's human nature. And to say to concrete over my garden would be quite a loss to the wildlife that have made it their home. As far as I am concerned magpies have the same behaviour as cats. They kill and torture for fun not only for food. I would quite happily put enough food out for them otherwise.
My garden is like a little oasis of calm for me and the wildlife and don't want it spoilt. Sorry if some people find my attitude distasteful.

 

[Capercaillie71]

As far as I am concerned magpies have the same behaviour as cats. They kill and torture for fun not only for food.

Magpies (and cats) kill out of instinct because they do not know when their next opportunity to feed is going to be. It is an adaptation to survival in times of food shortage, it isn't for fun.

Personally I wouldn't be surprised if the magpies move on of their own accord. I often get carrion crows and magpies visiting my garden at this time of year (post-breeding dispersal) but they never seem to settle here.

Like most others on this thread I find magpies attractive and intelligent birds which are often criticised for being successsful. Surely we should be more critical of all the rubbish birds that go extinct because they aren't able to adapt !

I can symapthise with you about the noise they make however. Having been woken at 4 in the morning by crows cawing outside my bedroom window or pecking at my window, it is a bit annoying.