AIBU to supersoak the magpies?

[User543212345]

There are some magpies who appear to have colonised a tree near our flat. They seem to come back every summer and now have designs on our balcony. Every morning from 4 fucking am they're out there cackling away, they peck at the windows, they leave dead smaller birds as gifts for us and generally make the balcony an unpleasant place to be. They also seem to be totally unafraid of us and when we try to scare them away from their murderous activities or mindless vandalism by banging windows or similar they just laugh at us.

So would I be unreasonable to buy a great big fuck off water pistol and squirt at them when they start their shenanigans? I'm not into hurting wildlife but I do want them to fuck off. If we are unreasonable then what else can we do?

Is it your tree/can you access it? Wondering if you could hang something reflective nearby to scare them off.

YWBU - hang up some old CDs/DVDs to frighten them off. I'd love it personally, Magpies are such intelligent birds, I'd befriend them and teach them to talk - but then I've always been a it mad when it comes to animals.

I wouldn't like it either OP. My arm would ache from all of the saluting!

It is illegal to intergfere with a British native nesting bird.
THe magpies are there because their food is there
if you use a super soaker (out of breeding season) to push them out of that tree they will move no further than the next one.

Magpies predate the weak nestlings of birds that breed in bulk assuming that predation control

making the balcony V V V unwelcome should be just fine though

Magpies are a menace. They have their place in nature obviously but they do a lot of damage to songbird populations as you've found out by all the dead ones on your balcony.
My personal favourite way to deal with magpies is a shotgun but I'm guessing that won't go down too well living in a flat so YANBU about the super soaker.

Just shoot them. I'm pretty sure it's allowed (air rifle, obvs).

Super soak away. S fucking arsehole birds* I'm all for nature but not right outside the sodding window.

I feel your pain. We have noisy ones in the tree outside of our bedroom window at the moment. They aren't nesting in it, but they seem to do a lot of fighting with a rival breeding pair from the other end of the street in our tree. I want to throw rocks at them now they are waking me regularly at first light, but I don't want the neighbours shouting at me for denting their cars.

mania / argy
Golden Eagles are OK too then ?
And Buzzards
And Kites
And Sea Eagles

nature finds a balance - its us that fucks it up

I hang plastic bags out my windows when they're about. My street is tortured with birds for a month or so. They don't like the bags (the 5p ones not those fancy bags for life), my neighbour uses freezer bags - they work too.

Can you jet wash a magpie?

airgun. Unless you're a good shot (and I'm not sure its legal to shoot them ) then what if its not the magpie you get?

NDN window
Cat
Child

My rescue cat had a pellet lodged under her skin, at the top of her tail. A centimetre lower would've shattered her spine.

Go with the reflective CDs

Aye, super soak them.

If you want ALL the bad luck OP!

Im convinced the Magpies in my garden are able to tell the difference between the safely catch going off a loaded air rifle, and a blank one. They'll completely ignore blanks being shot but when I pellet goes in (aiming at rabbits of course, who happen to be just behind the pies) they'll fly just a short distance but crucially out of my range. They know!

You can make the balcony off limits with a plastic owl or cat, or a cut out. It has to be a big one. If the eyes are big, round and shiny then it works better.

I put up reflective CDs on the Guinea pig run To protect them against magpies. It sort of worked as the magpies spent their time pecking the CDs instead.

You can make the balcony off limits with a plastic owl or cat

I wouldn't bet on it! I made the mistake if leaving cat biscuits out for a couple of days and I know can't get rid of the fuckers. They are terrorising my poor cats, to the point that I found one of my little kitties hiding under a garden chair. She was terrified.

I have pigeons that try to nest on my balcony, I have a bamboo stick to chase them away. Immediately. The only way to tell them they are not welcome . They will find somewhere else...

Fact is, we all have a right to live in this world whether man, beast, fly etc.

Magpies are AWFUL noisy creatures.

I love birds. But magpies are evil.

You could contact BASC and see if there's anyone near you with a Larsen trap.

I think you can shoot them, aren't they corvids?

My mum used to have a long sharp hazel stick to poke out their nests.

I counted 27 of them the other day.

Beautiful but rapacious.

www.rspb.org.uk/forprofessionals/policy/wildbirdslaw/birdsandlaw/wca/index.aspx

For anybody needing a reminder of the law.

Yes, looking at that link and the BASC site, one can shoot them