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Magpies – Smart, witty birds

89 points1 yearouraynews.com
ljf1 year ago

When I was about 10, we had a semi tame magpie for a while, everyone who met it fell in love with it - it was so personalable and interested in humans.

During a storm it had fallen out of a nest in our garden and I spotted it when I saw my cat approaching it. Tiny and hungry, it was happy to be fed and took bits of cat food from a pair of tweezers.

The next day another fell out - there was no way for us to reach the nest to return either of them, so we brought it in too.

It resolutely refused to eat and thought we were terrifying, even though it's relative would eat in front of it. It died quickly overnight, though we were not sure how long it had been out the nest.

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The first magpie, we named Marilyn as I had just learnt the name had normally been a male name before Marilyn Monroe, so I thought it a good unisex name.

It grew really attached to us - we'd feed it as often as it wanted, and it would perch on some bamboo rods that my father fixed up in the kitchen and chatter to use while we were talking. It would fly to my shoulder and back when asked to, and enjoyed being stroked and scratched.

Each night it would fly to a box we had so we could put it to bed and keep it safe from our cats (who generally seemed pretty uninterested as it grew bigger).

For a period we would take it into the garden each day, and it would fly off and return as much as it wanted, coming back into the kitchen through our open door. Then one day it suddenly learnt how to eat and drink by itself - the next day it flew off and we never knowingly saw it again.

I later read that in the middle ages they were common pets - but they would clip their wings for the first few months so they lose the urge to fly away. I am sad it left, but glad we didn't, I hope it lived a good magpie life somewhere.

I still say 'Marilyn' to magpies I meet, just in case it is them :)

nicbou1 year ago

That's the sort of comments that keep me coming back to this website. Now I want a pet magpie! Thanks for sharing.

gsinclair1 year ago

A beautiful story, thank you. They are marvellous birds.

tomcam1 year ago

Evocative and bittersweet. Thank you.

seanw4441 year ago

There was one that must've set up a nest somewhere near my parking spot at my apartment towards the end of summer. Every time I came home, it would be running around looking for things in the flowerbed nearby, and then come over to me and follow my feet/shoes, and then do soft nips. It was interesting though, because it's like it knew not to peck my ankles (that were covered by my socks) as hard as it did my shoes. Playful in a way.

It would stand on my shoe, and I'd lift it up. It'd bite onto the side of my shoe, and I'd play tug of war with it.

At one point I was diagnosing a car battery issue, and when I had the hood popped, it got territorial over my car. I kept trying to lead it away by enticing it with something distracting a little ways away from the car, and then running back to check my battery. But it would return.

A couple times, I pulled out of my spot to head to work in the morning, and it'd ride on top of my car for a few seconds before I started driving too fast.

They're such interesting birds. I kinda miss that one.

KineticLensman1 year ago

(I volunteer at a raptor conservation Trust).

Many birds will play with objects in their aviaries to varying degrees. Vultures (Hooded and Egyptian) will pull on shoe laces. Owls and Kites will fly off with a sponge if you take your eyes off it while cleaning their aviary. Caracaras are about as safe to have around as a raccoon. Many birds will look inside a bucket or try to pull it over.

These birds vary a lot in their intelligence, as indicated by their ability to solve problems to access food.

rotexo1 year ago

On the subject of Caracaras, want to plug “A Most Remarkable Creature (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/251787/a-most-remar... ) by Jonathan Meiburg, lead singer of Shearwater

m4631 year ago

> Caracaras are about as safe to have around as a raccoon.

that doesn't sound very safe. Raccoons look like friendly rascally creatures but I think they can do some damage.

matt_morgan1 year ago

KineticLensman's writing is a little unclear there, but I think that was the intent--birds are tricky, and Caracaras are just as tricky as raccoons, i.e. not safe.

yareally1 year ago

As the owner of a couple parrots, I can concur. Even parrots, who are supposed to be relatively tame still get into all sorts of trouble, are quite loud and will bite for no apparent reason (sometimes to hurt, other times to just show affection).

I love my birds, but they're definitely not the pet for everyone. I'd encourage anyone thinking of adopting one to volunteer at a rescue first to get a better idea of whether they're the right pet for your lifestyle.

rolph1 year ago

what might you think of trading posts?

e.g use a visual cue, such as a dollar bill, coupled with food reward. attempt to cargo cult the birds, into replicating conditions associated with reward. to the end, birds will find the cue [$] and bring it to the trade post /vending machine.

the bird doesnt need to "know" any material value, other than; a particular item, at a particular place, allows food discovery

jfk131 year ago

There was the guy who trained his local magpies to collect discarded bottle caps... https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/magpies-traine...

KineticLensman1 year ago

Not many dollar bills in aviaries, unfortunately. We already have to watch out for the free-flying birds diving into the crowd during a display to steal sandwiches, sausage rolls, etc. Probably best not to train them to go for wallets

sliken1 year ago

Had a community of magpies in my back yard. They'd often collectively yell at me when I was in the back yard. One day my dog found something, obviously pleased with herself. I found an unhurt baby bird and nest that had been blown down. I put the dog in, got a cardboard box and duct tape, and put the bird+nest back in the tree securely.

Shortly later, saw the mom feeding the baby.

They never yelled at us again, and would often peek in our windows at us, or hang out in front of our glass door looking in.

LordHeini1 year ago

Loosely related:

The German name of Magpie is Elster.

They are known for liking and 'acquiring' shiny things like coins.

The German online portal for tax declaration is called Elster as well.

Apparently it stands for ELektronische STeuerERklärung :)

867-53091 year ago

shame the 'shiny things' was debunked as a myth

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_406690_en.html

worthless-trash1 year ago

I would bet that domesticated birds do not have the same habits as wild birds, so I'm not sure that one can take that as successfully debunked. I have never seen a magpie nest with silver/shiny things though.

Most casual observers in Australia might confuse the magpie with the bower bird (lemme smash / want sum bekky bird), which does collect blue/shiny things and its nest is at ground level.

potatochup1 year ago

Also, I believe Australian and European magpies are not that closely related?

worthless-trash1 year ago

Today I learned, Thanks !

AbleWilliam1 year ago

A number of years ago my housemate found an injured magpie in the backyard and brought it in. It seemed to have been involved in a fight with something, and while its wing was intact, it had lost enough feathers so as to be unable to fly.

It lived with us for about three weeks as it recuperated, slowly spending more time in the yard and eventually flying away. It was really fun to have around, it would perch on top of my laptop and watch me as I worked, occasionally poking at my head, or flopping down to look at the screen.

It was a very smart and attentive bird. The one time we left it alone in the kitchen, it climbed the shelves and pecked a hole in its birdseed bag. 10/10 would recommend.

pleb_nz1 year ago

Not to be confused with Australian magpies which although also smart are not related to European and american magpies.

EdwardDiego1 year ago

And are giant arseholes when they're nesting. In the country town I grew up in, a key footpath when walking to school would end up with 3 - 4 magpie nests in trees alongside it.

So us kids would compete to see who could last the longest walking past them, as soon as you ran, or put your backpack over your head to protect yourself, you lost.

No-one ever made it past the third nest without breaking.

pleb_nz1 year ago

Friends of mine wore masks on the back of their heads so it looked like they were looking back, that stopped the magpies swooping on them from behind one summer.

qnt1 year ago

They get some hate here but are lovely birds. Waking up in the bush to their song is quite special.

I know someone on a farm who had a few as pets. One somehow was taught to roll on its back and lift a fork/spoon like a barbell

ehnto1 year ago

I love the dichotomy of their voicings. Probably one of the most beautiful timbres I have heard for their warbling songs, and then just a straight creaking screech for everything else.

Probably my favourite bird, even if they swoop me every year.

ehnto1 year ago

Also a slightly confusing bird. Not a magpie for one, and even though they look like crows they are not corvids either. Meanwhile, a european magpie is a corvid. Made me realize I have no idea what a corvid really is.

Most foreigners picturing an Australian magpie might be picture something like the Australian Magpie-Lark, which looks a lot more like euro magpies and so on. But the Australian Magpie looks more like a crow or raven with white and black feathers. They even croak like crows, but alas, not related apparently.

chasil1 year ago
papandada1 year ago

I worked at a tourist destination in Canada one summer during school. A foreigner came up to me and asked, "what are these beautiful birds we keep seeing?"

Well ma'am, those are magpies, and we all complain about them. I still laugh about that, but I do think it's sweet to be able to look at even magpies through a fresh perspective and see they are beautiful, and wonderful, in their own way.

kakapo881 year ago

In California we have the yellow-billed magpie. Identical to this one ... but with a yellow bill. And weirdly enough, the ranges of the two species don't overlap. It's black-billed on one side of the line, yellow-billed on the other. Evolution can be a bit weird, sometimes.

lxe1 year ago

I've come to really enjoy observing birds in my yard. Their behavior creates this interesting little drama that's fun to just pay attention to. Especially when war breaks out. Crows VS Owls is quite a show.

eatonphil1 year ago

I've seen them in Korea (they are large, and everywhere) but sadly not in the (Eastern) US.

https://www.eagletimes.com/lifestyles/of-a-feather-why-no-ma...

Pr0ject2171 year ago

Magpies: my least favorite animal.

They're obnoxious and aggressive.

ChuckNorris891 year ago

Related: Training Australia's Dangerous Magpies [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXYf2DTOsvI

ggm1 year ago

Different bird, same name. But also hyper intelligent, social, judgemental even: they "punish" transgressors of their (australian) magpie code. They also mourn deaths in the community. I've had good magpie friends in different houses here.

They have to care for "teenager" birds, I suspect prolonged adolescence may be part of the socialisation of the species.

Some people say Tasmanian Magpies are less swoopy than the mainland. Which goes to "culture"

Members of the wider Cracticus family.

COGlory1 year ago

I used to love magpies, until I got a dog.

I now hate magpies.

xeonmc1 year ago

    Here's the thing. You said a "jackdaw is a crow." ...