Getting rid of magpies
Discussion
Is there a way of specifically scaring off magpies. I am iritated by the noisy little f
kers at the best of times, but what I have witnessed over the past few days fills me with hate for them. It all kicked off on Sunday morning. They were doing their usual ASBO bit with their ugly sqwawking and flapping about in the fruit trees at the bottom of the garden, snapping off twigs etc. but then I noticed the proceedings had become even more frantic. This went on through most of the day and into Monday.
This morning I found the fruits of their labour
A nearly headless blackbird (male) and a female blackbird with both eyes pecked out. Scattered around them were the remains of a nest and possibly some chicks or eggs (hard to tell).
They could have done no harm to the magpies, but something in the magpies psyche has made them carry out this barbaric act. They are not even resident in my garden, but live two doors down. I only wish I had paid more attention to the earlier confrontation.
Magpies; the psychos of the bird world
kers at the best of times, but what I have witnessed over the past few days fills me with hate for them. It all kicked off on Sunday morning. They were doing their usual ASBO bit with their ugly sqwawking and flapping about in the fruit trees at the bottom of the garden, snapping off twigs etc. but then I noticed the proceedings had become even more frantic. This went on through most of the day and into Monday. This morning I found the fruits of their labour
A nearly headless blackbird (male) and a female blackbird with both eyes pecked out. Scattered around them were the remains of a nest and possibly some chicks or eggs (hard to tell).
They could have done no harm to the magpies, but something in the magpies psyche has made them carry out this barbaric act. They are not even resident in my garden, but live two doors down. I only wish I had paid more attention to the earlier confrontation.
Magpies; the psychos of the bird world
Edited by 911motorsport on Thursday 3rd June 10:35
Harry Flashman said:
Do you have land?
My pa uses a .410 shotgun on the murderous thugs. This has worked so effectively that the birds fly off the moment a window or door is opened at my parents' home; if they are on the lawn close to the house, they will spook even if they see someone moving behind a closed window - they learn fast.
Or he just lets the dog out.
Our songbird population is well up this yearm, and the nesting boxes remain unmolested.
Just a mid sized suburban garden unfortunately, so even an air rifle would be unsafe.My pa uses a .410 shotgun on the murderous thugs. This has worked so effectively that the birds fly off the moment a window or door is opened at my parents' home; if they are on the lawn close to the house, they will spook even if they see someone moving behind a closed window - they learn fast.
Or he just lets the dog out.
Our songbird population is well up this yearm, and the nesting boxes remain unmolested.
Just been reading up on something called a 'Larson Trap' though. Could be a goer
http://www.birdcare.com/birdon/birdcare/tipsheets/...
I recently saw one of those owl decoys mounted in a tree further up the road from me! Quite realistic in among the branches. It caught my eye because it was mounted not in a tree in the garden, but in a large birch at the side of the road. I reckon they must have had enough of the magpies too, or they've put it there to stop the birds stting on their car parked beneath it 
Edited by 911motorsport on Thursday 3rd June 12:56
But cats are indiscriminate and kill anything they can get their claws into, including my little songbirds. In fact the neighbour's cat has learned to home in on the twittering of new born chicks in my birdbox; she sits below it for days on end waiting for the little ones that don't fly at the first attempt 
It's a wonder anything smaller than a horse survives in my back garden.
It's a wonder anything smaller than a horse survives in my back garden.
Japveesix said:
They're only magpies why all the fuss and vitriol?
Anthropomorphizing them with words like cruel and barbaric is akin wo what people were doing 200 years, or more, ago when they decided to wipe out the wolf, red kite, buzzards, golden eagle, wildcats and almost any other major predator.
Blackbirds are the most common garden bird seen in many areas, not threatened or rare in any way and the magpies just did what comes naturally. They most likely pecked the eyes out afterwards as they make good eating and are easily accessible and sadly the blackbirds paid the price for nesting in a poor location and for attempting to protect the eggs.
We've got plenty of magpies around and our blackbirds have raised chicks in the same dense bush successfully for the last 3 years. The magpies feed off the table less then 6 foot from the nest. I don't encourage them because they dissuade other birds from coming down (and I like variety) but they're just another part of nature.
Would you all be as outraged and horified if you found a badger had "barbarically slaughtered" a nest of rabbit kits, or is that more acceptable because badgers have less stigma attached to them?
My garden, My rules. What I have witnessed is the mindless slaughter of my two blackbirds and their clutch. They were nesting in my garden, that has no resident magpies, and were minding their own business and doing the things that blackbirds do; whistling tunefully and grubbing around for natural food. As mentioned, the magpies live two doors down. They've rocked up at my garden and taken it on themselves to kill anything they can get their ugly sqwawking beaks on. Stigma or not, I saw what I saw and can draw my own conclusions. i.e. They are evil bAnthropomorphizing them with words like cruel and barbaric is akin wo what people were doing 200 years, or more, ago when they decided to wipe out the wolf, red kite, buzzards, golden eagle, wildcats and almost any other major predator.
Blackbirds are the most common garden bird seen in many areas, not threatened or rare in any way and the magpies just did what comes naturally. They most likely pecked the eyes out afterwards as they make good eating and are easily accessible and sadly the blackbirds paid the price for nesting in a poor location and for attempting to protect the eggs.
We've got plenty of magpies around and our blackbirds have raised chicks in the same dense bush successfully for the last 3 years. The magpies feed off the table less then 6 foot from the nest. I don't encourage them because they dissuade other birds from coming down (and I like variety) but they're just another part of nature.
Would you all be as outraged and horified if you found a badger had "barbarically slaughtered" a nest of rabbit kits, or is that more acceptable because badgers have less stigma attached to them?
ds that kill for the sake of killing. Perhaps they have a stigma as it is well deserved. The monochrome, blackbird killing, eye pecking, branch snapping, mindless sqwawking rotten bds.Edited by 911motorsport on Thursday 3rd June 18:35
The crafty fkers! I have adapted an old birdcage to the purpose of catching my 'Judas' bird. I have baited it with the scrambled egg on toast, and placed some more around the area to draw it in. They've eaten every scrap from around the cage, but totaly disregarded what is in the cage.
This is war!
kers! I have adapted an old birdcage to the purpose of catching my 'Judas' bird. I have baited it with the scrambled egg on toast, and placed some more around the area to draw it in. They've eaten every scrap from around the cage, but totaly disregarded what is in the cage.This is war!
Fantastic idea! I recall the Royal Aircraft Establisment (as it was then) at Farnborough used this very method for clearing the airfield of (I think) Peewits. Used to drive around in a landrover with enormous loud speakers on the roof.
The other idea I'm toying with is a remote control plane dressed as an eagle
The other idea I'm toying with is a remote control plane dressed as an eagle
Edited by 911motorsport on Friday 4th June 12:35
FasterFreddy said:
Mr Gearchange said:
I remember reading something about someone who had a similar problem with Crows.
They got hold of a recording of a crow in distress (presumably VBRJ by a Rook or somesuch) anyway - they played the recording on a loudspeaker and all the crows fked off never to return. Which says a lot about the camaraderie of Crows IMO - the bds.
So you need a recording of a Magpie in dire straits. Easy I'm sure.
I thought about this, but when I looked into it, it seems that if you play a magpie distress call, it actually attracts the little buggers.They got hold of a recording of a crow in distress (presumably VBRJ by a Rook or somesuch) anyway - they played the recording on a loudspeaker and all the crows f
ked off never to return. Which says a lot about the camaraderie of Crows IMO - the bds.So you need a recording of a Magpie in dire straits. Easy I'm sure.
dsEdited by 911motorsport on Friday 4th June 13:03
Only my hatred is not irrational. I have witnessed these magpies mindlessly murder two little songbirds and their young. They did this out of wanton blood lust!!! ergo........they're nasty little bds; and Mr and Mrs Blackbird will be avenged.
ds; and Mr and Mrs Blackbird will be avenged. Edited by 911motorsport on Friday 4th June 13:29
champ54321 said:
Emsman said:
Every magpie hater should have one of these!
Japveesix said:
911motorsport said:
Only my hatred is not irrational. I have witnessed these magpies mindlessly murder two little songbirds and their young. They did this out of wanton blood lust!!! ergo........they're nasty little bds; and Mr and Mrs Blackbird will be avenged.
Wow, you witnessed some wild animals killing some other wild animals, I can't begin to imagine how traumatic that must have been for you.ds; and Mr and Mrs Blackbird will be avenged. Magpies are amongst the most attractive and intelligent birds in the UK. They've adapted well to all the things humans have changed/ruined and thrive in cities (much like foxes, pigeons, rats etc) because they are intelligent and opportunistic.
Our native songbirds have suffered because people have concreted their driveways, decked and patioed their gardens and planted fancy borders of non native plants. Not to mention destroying almost all of their natural wild habitat and killing them by the thousands with cars, cats and pesticides etc. People on here seem to think the magpie is to blame for something we (as humans) are almost certainly entirely responsible for.
Your irrational, and grossly out of proportion, hatred is bizarre and makes you seem slightly mental.
Have fun whiling away the hours this weekend plotting your revenge. Be careful though as according to your warped logic they are your neighbours magpies and perhaps they are as attached to them as you seem to have been to your blackbirds...
Do you offer internet 'spiritual' readings too?
Neither my path or briveway, nor my patio, killed the blackbirds. It was the magpies that did it. And they did it for s
ts and giggles. However alien it is to you, that makes me dislike them. Pothole said:
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