Deterrents
Followers of this blog will know that I greatly admire magpies, those cunning, inventive members of the crow family. Until the middle of the 19th century, magpies were exceedingly common in Britain. Farmers welcomed them for their effectiveness in depleting harmful rodent and insect populations.
However, from 1850 until the First World War, gamekeepers waged relentless war on them. They held them responsible for killing the game chicks they so carefully raised in order to be shot down in their hundreds by enthusiastic well-heeled ‘sporting’ men in country tweeds. (I have no problem with killing for food or population control, but killing for pleasure I find hard to understand.)
Magpie numbers dropped dramatically and didn’t recover until the 20th century. The population has remained stable since.
This morning I heard an interesting item on the radio about magpies. They are opportunistic, using a variety of materials for building their nests. The inner nest is bowl-shaped and made of mud and lined with roots, hair, grasses and other plant materials. A dome of twigs covers the nest with an opening at one side to allow access. Some magpies have incorporated barbed wire in the construction but the most surprising component is bird deterrent spikes. How ironic, that the spikes used to deter birds from roosting are the very things being removed and used by magpies to deter other birds from attacking their chicks.
Ironic indeed, and so very intelligent!
ReplyDeleteAdaptability!
DeleteThat's very clever of them :) I don't understand killing for pleasure either.
ReplyDelete. . . and we use 'bird brain' as an insult!
DeleteIs it true that the magpies use the spikes to deter birds from attacking their chicks? I don't blame the new mothers from doing whatever they have to do on their babies' behalf, but I am still very surprised that they recycle human made barbed wire bits.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is true. Quotations below.
ReplyDelete"Experts at the Netherlands' Naturalis Biodiversity Centre and the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam made the surprising discovery that birds make use of roof spikes to scare off predators."
"The team from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the Natural History Museum Rotterdam have described the "remarkable behaviour" in scientific publication Deinsea as "an ultimate adaptation to life in the city". It started with the discovery of a huge nest in Antwerp in the courtyard of a hospital, which was spotted by one of the patients.
High up in a tree, magpies made a huge nest of up to 1,500 metal spikes. For this particular nest, birds had pulled as many as 50 metres (150ft) of anti-bird pins from the eaves."
Your very smart magpies are clearly members of the crow family. Ours are quite different magpies and I am not sure of their genus? They don't seem as smart as our crows and ravens and I noted in England that your crows are quite different to ours.
ReplyDeleteBut then in southern Australia we have ravens, not crows.
DeleteI can't find any sensible information on Australian crows. Australian magpies aren't corvids but haven't they got wonderful voices? I could listen to them all day long.
DeleteMy neighbor's cat had as a friend a magpie ! The bird followed the cat everywhere and then they were sitting side by side on the sidewalk ! that was so funny. It even tried to follow the cat in the house ! Strange friendship. Rick called them "little Rosies" because they have the same color "Look there is Rosie flying over the house" ! I hate hunting, I was once invited when I was 20 and dated a Baron I went by curiosity, but when I saw all these guys with their guns drinking and laughing before going in the woods around the castle, I suddenly caught a terrible cold an sneezed and coughed as loud as I could. Was very elegant. I excused myself also loud and got killer looks ! Finally my Baron suggested that I go inside. That's what I did. This relationship didn't last long ! He was so stupid,j I wonder how he made it through school !
ReplyDeleteA cat and a bird being friends is quite unusual - it must have been lovely seeing them together.
DeleteWell done on dumping the baron!
I agree re killing for pleasure. I just don't get it but I do accept that people have a different pov. xx
ReplyDeleteIt's often difficult seeing other people's point of view! x x
DeleteAll living creatures have a part to play, though appreciating them all can sometimes be difficult :-)
ReplyDeleteThere was a similar item in the news here in Belgium as well. How very clever of magpies to use bird deterrent spikes to build their nests! xxx
ReplyDeleteI just can't get over how resourceful and intelligent birds are. Humans are by no means superior! x x
ReplyDelete