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 :)
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.
(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.
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
> 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.
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.
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.
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
There was the guy who trained his local magpies to collect discarded bottle caps... https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/magpies-traine...
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
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.
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 :)
shame the 'shiny things' was debunked as a myth
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.
Also, I believe Australian and European magpies are not that closely related?
Today I learned, Thanks !
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.
Not to be confused with Australian magpies which although also smart are not related to European and american magpies.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
La Gazza Ladra.
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.
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.
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.
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...
Magpies: my least favorite animal.
They're obnoxious and aggressive.
Related: Training Australia's Dangerous Magpies [1]
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.
I used to love magpies, until I got a dog.
I now hate magpies.
Here's the thing. You said a "jackdaw is a crow." ...
That's the sort of comments that keep me coming back to this website. Now I want a pet magpie! Thanks for sharing.
A beautiful story, thank you. They are marvellous birds.
Evocative and bittersweet. Thank you.