A Magpie came to my garden today and the Magpie was missing half of it’s top beak! It also has a very slightly swollen right ankle. The Magpie has trouble eating food, but it’s bottom beak is still sharp and long. It can drink but can’t preen. It is possibly a friend that has been coming for maybe half a decade now. I would wish to know if anyone has come across this and if any knows how to deal with it, and will it survive?
There is a magpie that visits a worksite that has both beaks chopped in half. He seems to get on okay with eating and drinking although he looks funny when he drinks because when all the birds tilt their heads back to roll the water down their throats he sticks his tongue out where the extent of his beak would normally be. A lady at work likes to give scraps to the group and especially keeps a bit aside for this individual. When she has hols they seem to miss her offerings. It's a little hard to tell how he would go if he didn't get this help. He’s been around for several years in that condition so I’d say his survival chances are good.
Thanks for the reply. I hope that the Magpie at my home will have the same chances as the one in your story. The news that the one you talked about surviving is encouraging, though the fact that the bird has still got chopped beaks is less so! I thought that birds’ beaks regrew over time, but years seem scary.
This Pied Butcher bird has had the top half of his beak missing since he was only a very young juvenile. He would visit my workplace every day and still resides there among the residents in the village that help to keep him fed.
He survived very well in the early days thanks to a little help from his human friends. Part of his beak even grew back but whether it was because he was only a juvenile I am not sure. Hopefully your bird will have the same luck! This one is now two years old.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
So is the beak missing from birth as a genetic defect or something?