What ‘orrible things; I didn’t realise until tonight and a quick google to check. I thought they were just cheeky scavengers that flew off with ladies bracelets etc.

It had been a great day, and I sat out on the front step contemplating my achievements, overlooking the common, with a nice cold drink, and suddenly see a magpie swoop on something.

With the location, I guessed it was a field mouse and stood up to have a look, only to see this bastard bird pecking some tiny little bird to death, that was by now tweeting it’s displeasure.

Immediate reaction was to shoo it off, but then thought the victim could end up just suffering a slow painful death from it’s injuries, so I just went in. I’m still wondering whether I did the right thing 😥

Magpies. Arseholes.

Little shits. Steal shiny things, like jigsaws…

Worse than Cuckoos if you ask me. At least Cuckoos sound awesome.
Just nature though innit.

There’s a Magpie around here that’s gonna get a .22 pellet through it’s bonce mind!

They’re a 50% cross between a crow and a killer whale, that was never going to end well.

I also thought they were cool, till I watched one raid a nest of chicks… Not so cool now.

They truly are horrible birds. The rats of the bird family. Despite their colours they are actually members of the crow family which means they are clever, resourceful and downright nasty killers with it. They think nothing of emptying bird nests of eggs or baby birds, hell we had one eating our hens eggs every day if we didn’t get their early enough.

Nature is red in both tooth and claw, they do what they are meant to do. Lions kill graceful Antelope do you hate them.

That little bird would have lived to eat many worms and other bugs. Life is life, nature is nature.

Baronsamedi; you’re another login for someone, can’t be arsed to figure out who, but your trolling is weak. 😉

Larsen trap. Very effective. House sparrows, robins, tits,finches think they also think larsen traps are great. Get one. Use it.

This is all getting a bit bloodthirsty!

I like magpies. Proper birds. Clever, well armed and don’t give a shit about our delicate, fluffy bunny bollocks.

They do what they need to do. Don’t try and analyse it.

And magpies are welcome to eat all the bloody chicks all over our loft. Bloody starlings.

Aussie magpies are nasty too. You’ll be blithely wandering through a park somewhere minding your own business when out of the sky swoops a two-tone feathered missile of death sticking its beak deep into your skull. Bigger than our UK ones too. Hate em.

Hate is a strong word for nature.

Maybe you do not like their behaviour.

as a corvid you should not be surprised

And magpies are welcome to eat all the bloody chicks all over our loft. Bloody starlings.

Starlings (or ‘Splashfarts’ as we used to call them) are in a worrying decline whereas Magpies aren’t.

Leave those Splashfarts Starlings alone!

I like Magpies.

My father in law hates them. But I think he just dislikes anything more intelligent than him, hence all corvids are on the hit list.

OP needs to spend more time observing mother nature in action.

Around our way starlings are not in decline. One nest for the last few years, this year – at least four. And all the other houses around are the same – they are bloody everywhere.

I had a pet magpie (captive bred) for 16 years and he was without doubt the most good tempered and cheerful pet I’ve ever had. He adored me and was an absolute delight. He could mimic me extremely well, and also fire alarms, for some reason. I’ve had a couple of other brain damaged rescued ones, got one at the moment minus a wing, poor fecker.

Ernie, would love to have a corvid as a pet, awesome creatures.

The only one I’m really scared of is homo sapien. Awful lifeforms killing for fun.

@ Coyote – Jackdaws are probably the best because they are the most highly gregarious of the family so are likely the bond very closely with a human, I’ve never had one though. Magpies are simular in that respect too. Jays are the worse, I’ve had one – they are solitary animals and are extremely uncomfortable with humans. Crows IME differ remarkably as individuals. I’ve got one 25 years old who’s a character but can sometimes be aggressive and doesn’t really enjoy being stroked, got another one half that age who is never aggressive and likes to be stroked. They have very different tastes in food too. TBH I wouldn’t recommend them as pets.

The only one I’m really scared of is homo sapien. Awful lifeforms killing for fun.

+1000

Worst creature on the planet. Earth would be a lot nicer without humans on it.

The only one I’m really scared of is homo sapien. Awful lifeforms killing for fun.

cannot argue against that quote 🙁

Worst creature on the planet.

I dunno, the Mallard must be up there?

When a magpie dies or moves out, there will be fights over their territory. Al the other magpies gather to watch because the outcome will affect their own territories too – it’s called a parliament of magpies. Amazing birds.

just watched a magpie harassed out of the garden by an irate blackbird. It was quite amusing that after the fight sparrows were straight in there to collect the magpie feathers for nesting material.

I witnessed a Blackbird killing a spuggy in a fight a few years ago, they’re very territorial. Should I hate Blackbirds now?

I had a pet magpie (captive bred) for 16 years and he was without doubt the most good tempered and cheerful pet I’ve ever had. He adored me and was an absolute delight. He could mimic me extremely well, and also fire alarms, for some reason. I’ve had a couple of other brain damaged rescued ones, got one at the moment minus a wing, poor fecker.

our neighbour had a pet Magpie years ago, it was mesmerized by our pet rabbits white tail (black rabbit) and used to spend hour following it around the garden.

Worst creature on the planet. Earth would be a lot nicer without humans on it.

Can I be the first to say: Bluuuuuurrrrghhh!

Feel better now. 😉

I detest magpies. As they have no natural predators, their population grows year on year. I have shot hundreds of them over the years and don’t regret that. We’ve got bluetits nesting in our nest box at the moment and the local magpies are onto it. The chicks will be fledging in a week or so and I’m dreading the carnage that will ensue.

I sold up my guns four years ago but I might buy one just for the black and whites.

They’re a 50% cross between a crow and a killer whale, that was never going to end well.

🙂

As they have no natural predators

Google Sparrowhawk Vs Magpie. You’ll find one where the former drowns the latter. A little disturbing but totally natural. If you hate them you’ll probably enjoy it…

Here. I won’t imbed it…

Larson traps are ace, a local guy was up to 400+ magpies mid season year before last, I’m more of a .410 man myself.

Meet Norman, our resident young magpie who can’t fly, suspect a broken wing:

Been banned from shooting him (not that I know he is a he). He’s just struts about the garden eating stuff on the ground. It might be upsetting that his fellow magpies kill other things, rob nests etc but then so do cats and grey squirrels. We recently had a stoat take out a grey squirrel which was quite a sight

Norman looks like prime bait for a Larson trap, the hardest one to catch is the first.

Hate the things between me and a local gamekeeper have trapped and killed over 30 this spring, grey squirrels are also shot on sight. Loads of young fledglings in our garden now 🙂

careful tuffty, you will upset the blinkered townie liberals with talk like that. 🙄

blinkered

Don’t know who you’re referring to in particular but surely enjoying killing anything is a bit…well…old skool, innit – thought we’d moved on. I doubt it’s considered liberal not to enjoy slaughter. It’s a need thing as opposed to a pleasure thing, surely.

Most things could be considered vermin/bastards when viewed from a prey viewpoint. Take birds in general, from an insect perspective this bloody great creature swoops down and swallows half of your mates* – gruesome predator! That post on the other page that was accused of being a troll was closest – red in tooth and claw.

* I don’t actually anthropomorphise the animal kingdom, I was adding a sprinkle of humour