Well it happened again this morning, now the magpie knows where the nest is its easy pickings. It sat on my roof and stripped the carcass. I feel abit guilty because i had the conifer they nested in cut down and the one they are in now halfed end of last year,the top of the conifer has not got much foliage.
One winter I saw two Magpies hunt a robin. The robin was flying diagonally across a snowy field and two magpies flew in from different directions one to distract and the other to attack. The attacking magpie made one strike at the robin which went down onto the snow in a pool of blood. They then literally tore it apart and devoured it. Not pretty but fascinating behaviour from intelligent corvids. Everything has to eat.
This morning we watched a pair of magpies mobbing and harrying a Herring Gull - presumably the gull had attacked the magpies nest after eggs or nestlings, giving them a taste of their own medicine.
"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on,
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."
Augustus de Morgan
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My friend had a magpie nest that kept being attacked by a lone carrion crow 2 weeks ago. It emptied the nest. Now the magpies are trying again in a nest about 15 ft from the other one, I can only see one result
Sorry but I'm hating the magpies at the moment. Bad enough when four of them swing from my birdfeeder to get to the suet and seed, knock it all sideways and frighten off the bluetits, nuthatch etc. Now they have eaten nearly all my baby spiders!! I've been watching them grow for the last couple of days and heard a loud tap at my bedroom window a few minutes ago. There was a magpie sitting on the lawn locker that is under the window and all but about three of the babies have gone. They were lovely to watch and yes I know it's nature and I do love all birds but just not at this moment. Will try and attach photo of the babies pre magpie.
Thank you Jo47. If I could just work which settings to use on my camera (a new one), it would be better. Must get around to reading the User guide but it is pages long, so for the time being, I take most pictures on automatic
I have the opposite - magpies nesting in a tree in my garden and aggressively going for anything else that innocently flies anywhere near. I mean - do they really think goldfinches are going to eat a magpie chick? They have probably had their hands (wings?) full chasing off gulls during this recent bad weather.... the gulls would take their chicks I'm sure.
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Well it happened again this morning, now the magpie knows where the nest is its easy pickings. It sat on my roof and stripped the carcass. I feel abit guilty because i had the conifer they nested in cut down and the one they are in now halfed end of last year,the top of the conifer has not got much foliage.
One winter I saw two Magpies hunt a robin. The robin was flying diagonally across a snowy field and two magpies flew in from different directions one to distract and the other to attack. The attacking magpie made one strike at the robin which went down onto the snow in a pool of blood. They then literally tore it apart and devoured it. Not pretty but fascinating behaviour from intelligent corvids. Everything has to eat.
This morning we watched a pair of magpies mobbing and harrying a Herring Gull - presumably the gull had attacked the magpies nest after eggs or nestlings, giving them a taste of their own medicine.
"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on,
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."
Augustus de Morgan
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Very intelligent birds, the corvids
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hehe one Crow used to come with its crusty bread,and dip it in our slopstone sink,on a regular basis.
Sorry but I'm hating the magpies at the moment. Bad enough when four of them swing from my birdfeeder to get to the suet and seed, knock it all sideways and frighten off the bluetits, nuthatch etc. Now they have eaten nearly all my baby spiders!! I've been watching them grow for the last couple of days and heard a loud tap at my bedroom window a few minutes ago. There was a magpie sitting on the lawn locker that is under the window and all but about three of the babies have gone. They were lovely to watch and yes I know it's nature and I do love all birds but just not at this moment. Will try and attach photo of the babies pre magpie.
Thank you Jo47. If I could just work which settings to use on my camera (a new one), it would be better. Must get around to reading the User guide but it is pages long, so for the time being, I take most pictures on automatic
I have the opposite - magpies nesting in a tree in my garden and aggressively going for anything else that innocently flies anywhere near. I mean - do they really think goldfinches are going to eat a magpie chick? They have probably had their hands (wings?) full chasing off gulls during this recent bad weather.... the gulls would take their chicks I'm sure.