Troublesome Magpies

[scenesixty]

While I'm lucky enough to share a deep and leafy garden, I do find the sreeching and chattering Magpie's a nuisance! These Corvid's are the arch enemy of the carrion crow and don't know what troubles them near me-but what a helluva racket! I see on the net they have what they call the 'Larsen Trap' presumably for gamekeepers and suchlike-though think they are illegal (In UK). I hasten to say I wouldn't dream of capturing any!!

[zettel45]

Did you know that the European Magpie is one of only five species able to pass the "mirror test"?



This supposedly measures self-awareness. Frankly, the fact that magpies pass while dogs, cats, horses and monkeys all fail, suggests to me that the test is rubbish.

[Steve Crook]

name='zettel45' timestamp='1280756548' post='459309']

Did you know that the European Magpie is one of only five species able to pass the "mirror test"?



This supposedly measures self-awareness. Frankly, the fact that magpies pass while dogs, cats, horses and monkeys all fail, suggests to me that the test is rubbish.

I had a cat who soon passed it. When she was a kitten I had a mirror propped up on the floor. She waved her paw at it a few times and saw the mirror image wave her paw. She checked round the back of it and saw that there really wasn't another cat there. After that she would often groom herself in front of the mirror, using it to see where any tricky bits were.



But she was a super-cat in many ways



Steve

[ShirlGirl]

I love the sound of magpies.



Be glad you don't have a tree full of rainbow lorikeets in your garden!



Or these rotten little blighters: Noisy miner



..... all at the same time!

[Steve Crook]

name='scenesixty' timestamp='1280756176' post='459308']

While I'm lucky enough to share a deep and leafy garden, I do find the sreeching and chattering Magpie's a nuisance! These Corvid's are the arch enemy of the carrion crow and don't know what troubles them near me-but what a helluva racket! I see on the net they have what they call the 'Larsen Trap' presumably for gamekeepers and suchlike-though think they are illegal (In UK). I hasten to say I wouldn't dream of capturing any!!

Carrion crows are also corvids.

We have crows, magpies and jays (also corvids) in our suburban garden in leafy SW London



Some years ago, while I was driving past a local common I saw a huge flock of magpies on the ground. I asked at the time, if it's "one for sorrow, two for joy", what is if for 50 or more of them?



Since then, all corvids seem to be doing very well





Have you got any ring-necked parakeets (aka the rose-ringed parakeet)? They're even noisier than corvids. Some escaped from captivity (or were released by PETA extremists) and they've been breeding very successfully in the wild. They're so successful that people are talking about having to cull some of them



Steve

[Mr Sloane]

name='ShirlGirl' timestamp='1280757000' post='459315']

I love the sound of magpies.



Be glad you don't have a tree full of rainbow lorikeets in your garden!



Or these rotten little blighters: Noisy miner

I take it they are natural enemies of the Magpie as I played it with the window open and a Magpie started with it's alarm call.



I don't mind bird calls at all but we have a family of ravens nesting in the roof and they can be annoying.

[zettel45]

name='Steve Crook' timestamp='1280756857' post='459313']

I had a cat who soon passed it. When she was a kitten I had a mirror propped up on the floor. She waved her paw at it a few times and saw the mirror image wave her paw. She checked round the back of it and saw that there really wasn't another cat there. After that she would often groom herself in front of the mirror, using it to see where any tricky bits were.



But she was a super-cat in many ways



Steve

I saw a documentary recently which featured a dog that can recognise pictorial representations of objects. Apparently, no other canine example of this has ever been found.



I wonder why the Asian Magpie doesn't pass the test? Maybe it's culturally biased?

[Steve Crook]

name='zettel45' timestamp='1280757584' post='459318']

I saw a documentary recently which featured a dog that can recognise pictorial representations of objects. Apparently, no other canine example of this has ever been found.



I wonder why the Asian Magpie doesn't pass the test? Maybe it's culturally biased?

Animal behaviour people often make the mistake of doing an experiment like that on one or two animals and thinking that it applies to every animal of that species. Maybe it's only the stupid animals that volunteer for the experiments



Steve

[scenesixty]

name='Steve Crook' timestamp='1280757237' post='459316']

Carrion crows are also corvids.

We have crows, magpies and jays (also corvids) in our suburban garden in leafy SW London



Some years ago, while I was driving past a local common I saw a huge flock of magpies on the ground. I asked at the time, if it's "one for sorrow, two for joy", what is if for 50 or more of them?



Since then, all corvids seem to be doing very well





Have you got any ring-necked parakeets (aka the rose-ringed parakeet)? They're even noisier than corvids. Some escaped from captivity (or were released by PETA extremists) and they've been breeding very successfully in the wild. They're so successful that people are talking about having to cull some of them



Steve

Steve! I've seen those lime-green parrots yes, who likewise make a hell of a din! Luckilly not in the garden-the Magpies are the treeholder's out there. Troublingly so the 'Larsen Trap' website have two videos of Magpies and crows being done away with-the site says that they were originally on YouTube (taken down)-but Larsen Website have retained them!! They were killed by 'Gamekeepers'?...

[Steve Crook]

name='scenesixty' timestamp='1280757727' post='459320']

Steve! I've seen those lime-green parrots yes, who likewise make a hell of a din! Luckilly not in the garden-the Magpies are the treeholder's out there. Troublingly so the 'Larsen Trap' website have two videos of Magpies and crows being done away with-the site says that they were originally on YouTube (taken down)-but Larsen Website have retained them!! They were killed by 'Gamekeepers'?...

Gamekeepers will often kill corvids because they take the eggs (and the young) of game birds.



But any non-selective trapping method like the Larsen trap is always risky. And as with any trap, you should check it regularly



Steve

[scenesixty]

name='Steve Crook' timestamp='1280758045' post='459323']

Gamekeepers will often kill corvids because they take the eggs (and the young) of game birds.



But any non-selective trapping method like the Larsen trap is always risky. And as with any trap, you should check it regularly



Steve

Surely doing away with Corvid's is best left to those in the know!

[scenesixty]

name='scenesixty' timestamp='1280757727' post='459320']

Steve! I've seen those lime-green parrots yes, who likewise make a hell of a din! Luckilly not in the garden-the Magpies are the treeholder's out there. Troublingly so the 'Larsen Trap' website have two videos of Magpies and crows being done away with-the site says that they were originally on YouTube (taken down)-but Larsen Website have retained them!! They were killed by 'Gamekeepers'?...

i should have said ACT www.Actagainstcorvidtraps.co.uk

[ShirlGirl]

name='Mr Sloane' timestamp='1280757467' post='459317']

I take it they are natural enemies of the Magpie as I played it with the window open and a Magpie started with it's alarm call .

Try this one, Sloansy, and see what happens!

Kookaburra

[Mr Sloane]

name='ShirlGirl' timestamp='1280763669' post='459354']

Try this one, Sloansy, and see what happens!

Kookaburra

Nothing but the Magpie probably thought it was me looking at myself in the mirror

[ShirlGirl]

name='Mr Sloane' timestamp='1280763946' post='459357']

Nothing but the Magpie probably thought it was me looking at myself in the mirror

Ha-ha!



I thought they'd freak out!

[scenesixty]

name='Mr Sloane' timestamp='1280763946' post='459357']

Nothing but the Magpie probably thought it was me looking at myself in the mirror

Well, as you well know-these Magpies can be awfully naughty!

[Steve Crook]

name='scenesixty' timestamp='1280758200' post='459325']

Surely doing away with Corvid's is best left to those in the know!

I see no need to do away with them at all. There are a lot of them, they're a successful species. But they aren't exactly taking over.



Any gamekeepers (and their landowners) should be prepared for some losses in the birds they raise.



Steve

[Mervyn]

I remember reading ages ago that magpies hold something similar to funeral rituals...

[Timmy_Lea]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z23fZSa-QY4

[scenesixty]

name='Mervyn' timestamp='1280868547' post='459920']

I remember reading ages ago that magpies hold something similar to funeral rituals...

Yes they do! There seem to be a multidude of words to describe those complex corvid's: Rambuctious aggressive bold infuriating inquisitive ad infinitum! Magpies will also hold what is known as a 'Magpie Court'-I myself has seen one, and wrote about it in a recent issue of 'Fortean Times'