Hi folks, I just wanted to ask couple of questions about magpies please. Around '95 or '96 we started to feed a magpie family and each year the parents have returned. The usual pattern is the dad starts to arrive for food (while mum is on the nest we assume) then both of them start to arrive in relays once the young ones have hatched, then they start to bring the babies in with them for food. By late Jan/earlyFeb, they're usually pretty well done with us until the cycle restarts in Sept. Usually we get 3 babies... there's only been a couple of years with 2 and a couple with 4. For the first time ever this year they only bought out 1.
We've always been amused by the various personalities of the babies. Some will come in and tap on our door, others will come no closer than our shed roof etc. We had 3 babies appear last year and the first 2 were really "out there" compared to any others we'd ever had visit. Within a couple of days, one would hover in front of us when we walked out with the food container and then perch on our hand and eat. The second wasn't quite so bold but if we sat down on the step it would stand on the step beside us or perch on our foot while it waited for food.
We've had a couple of years where the previous year's babies have reappeared when we start to feed the parents and the dad has gone through the swooping/driving off process. This year, our two "bold" babies reappeared when we started to feed dad and despite his best efforts they didn't budge (a first for us... and possibly related to there only being one baby this year??). Over the past couple of months our 2 hangers on have turned our place into party central because we've got juveniles everywhere at the moment, maximum count 16 for a single visit but it's rare to go more than an hour or two without at least a couple coming to the drive thru window.
Over the years walking our dog at a local dog park I've seen large groups of young magpies congregate but I've never taken much notice of it and assume they eventually pair off and find some new territory? Now that it's happening in our back yard, I'm wondering if anyone knows the "science" behind this behaviour please. Will they eventually just move off of their own accord and by feeding them are we contributing to them hanging around and/or setting up a dependency that shouldn't be there for older birds? We have tried waiting them out on a few occasions but their patience seems endless and our back verandah, clothes line and shed roof start to look like a magpie version of the Alfred Hitchcock Birds movie and of course the longer they wait, the greater the mess they leave to be cleaned up.
Sorry for the long post, but we are starting to wonder if we're doing the wrong thing with them or if they will just head off at some point so if anyone knows I'd be grateful for some advice please.
Thanks
Jim
That's an interesting history of your interaction with Mapgies, Jim, and you've raised some important questions.
The movement of young Magpies to establish their own territories & families or to join other families is well covered by Gisela Kaplan's book Australian Magpie published by CSIRO Publishing. I recommend you take a look at this book about the "biology and behaviour of an unusual songbird". I strongly suspect that a number of your observations are discussed in Australian Magpie.
All animals are great at finding the most energy efficient way to survive. In the case of your backyard Mapgies there is no reason for them to expend energy foraging if they can obtain food more easily by simply flying to your Magpie Restaurant where they don't even have to make a booking. The problem with this scenario is that artificially feeding the Magpies (or any other bird species) takes them away from their ecological functions which, from my observations, are to
There are probably a number of other ecological functions which I haven't been observant enough to detect. However, I have observed juvenile Magpies watching adults listening for bugs, grubs & worms & then digging for them.
I suspect that young Magpies are socialised by adults during some, if not all, of these ecological processes so that artificially feeding Magpies probably interferes with the juveniles' development.
Much more broadly, what we're beginning to see is that human interference with ecological processes can have an extremely damaging effect on Nature on which we depend for our existence so that anything we can do to avoid this interference & restore natural ecological processes will benefit not only birds like Magpies but also our own species, Homo sapiens. To this end I recommend
One of the great benefits of this approach for you, of course, is that you won't have nearly as much Magpie crap to clean up.
Kaplan's book (and various other articles and radio interviews with her available on the subject on ABC Listen app) are well worth exploring as Woko says.
Sounds like you've had some wonderful interactions with these birds over the years, but your own observations are showing how they are affecting their natural lives, and going from being good interactions to potentially harmful to them and problematic to you. Perhaps considering phasing out the feeding over time would reduce both issues?
Thank you both for the comments. I wasn't aware of Gisela Kaplan's book so I will definitely get a copy of that. We have started to scale back the feeding, but as mentioned, and as I'm sure you both know, they aren't taking the hint too well and quite a bit of squabbling has broken out amongst them if they wait too long. We've certainly loved feeding "our" family over the years but becoming a magpie creche this year, especially when they're still hanging around beyond the period when our family have normally moved on for the year has become a concern. Hopefully they'll soon get the message and head off to a more natural habitat. Thanks again for the help!
I imagine there'll be some consternation among the Magpies as their expecatations of food from you aren't met. Yes, they'll be forced to return to more natural habitats for a feed. This is assuming they still have the capacity to do so because foraging may be not only a physical imperative but also a behaviour learned from their parents which may never have taught foraging to their youngsters.
An important consideration for people who wish to artificially feed birds in their backyards is for whom is the feeding. So often it's for the people's amusement &, perhaps, feeling they're in contact with nature rather than for the birds. So before artificially feeding birds it's a good idea to examine one's motives. Besides, by restoring more natural habitats to enable birds to feed themselves there's so much for humans to learn about birds & their place in the environment.
Agree with all said above. We have a visiting Magpies who bring young ones but they love to help with the gardening... any insect turned over is soon breakfast. They do not pester us or hang about in large numbers, just visit the garden even in our absence. I do supply water in the birdbath as consider that essential in the recent drought. Natural food seems the beat way to go and promotes normal behaviour. We can continue to enjoy their beautiful song for years to come. Good on you for asking and acting.
I have a question about magpies and I think maybe this forum may help. I do not know how to create my own forum.
I have a family of three magpies who come to my house for food: a pair and old baby (grey is nearly almost gone). I've seen multiple times the mum sing loudly then attack it. Is she kicking him out of the territory?
Hi CPBirdata. You got my curiosity juices moving so I delved into Kaplan's book mentioned in post #2 & #3 above. Chapter 4 about territoriality & dispersal was most instructive, particularly p. 41 of my edition in which she says "Dispersal age is usually between eight to 10 months of age" & writes about "harassing their offspring to leave when they are just six months old." So, I imagine that what you're seeing is indeed the mother enabling the dispersal of the youngster to a new territory.
At some stage soon I think you'll find that the youngster won't have to wait for mum's attack but will simply fly off out of reach when he/she hears the mother calling. Keep us posted on the process!
Thank you so much Woko for the helpful reply! I'll note the behaviour between the two in the next weeks.
Hello,
The baby magpie now does not go near his parents - including the father. They both swoop down on him and attack him if they get the chance. The baby magpie fluffs up and crouches down when he sees his parents. But as Woko predicted, they rarely do because the baby magpie flys away as soon as he hears the parents calling.
The baby magpie was singing the other day, and I noticed that in the middle of the warbling, he mimicked a Noisy Miner, a Wattlebird, and a Currawong. Is this normal?
I am also curious as usually every time I see the baby magpie, a Noisy Miner is with him. I have never seen the Noisy Miner mob him, and it seems to just go wherever he goes. The baby magpie doesn't seem to mind. Why is this?
Keep those observations coming, CPBirdata!
If I remember rightly Kaplan mentions Magpie mimicry in her book. As well, from time to time I've mistaken a Magpie call for the call of another species.
The young Magpie may have formed an attachment to the Noisy Miner or vice versa - or even both. What you've observed may be similar to the attachment of young geese to humans, following humans about probably because they see the humans as a source of food. Psychiatrist John Bowlby had lots to say about this.