Just seen a magpie kill a bird in our garden, how do we deter them?

[Magp13]

Been enjoying seeing all sorts of birds congregate in our garden and the variety has really increased this year. Was hoping for tits and lo and behold one appeared only to be pecked to death and carried off by a magpie. By the time we raced out it was gone. So sad a song thrush had been following me around as I tidied up from gardening. Worried all the other birds will be scared off now. How do we deter magpies.

Those magpies really need to brush up their literacy skills. I mean, don’t they even check the lease before they came barging in? Bastards. I’m certain you didn’t send them the invite the other birds got did you?

@user1471453601 what is a magpie funeral? I’m very intrigued.

Hedgehogs! Did you not see that springwatch episode (last year?) when the hedgehog came and ate baby birds right out of the nest of a ground nesting bird, just crunched them up alive, most horrific thing I've ever seen on springwatch, possibly on all tv. I still love hedgehogs though but it made me see them as predators in a way I hadn't before. It's all about perspective isn't it, the bluetits eat live insects in exactly the same way. I love the corvids, they interact with the world differently to other birds. But it's heartbreaking when you think you've created a safe haven I know.

I would be very careful with magpies. They are no exceptions to corvid cunning and extremely long memories. For faces.

Also not so sure about the bigger corvid deterrent. I've seen magpies,. rooks and crows all happily hopping about on my lawns when leftover bread or chips end up there. They can clear it in less than five minutes.

There is a saying about nature red in tooth and claw - we all have to eat to survive.

Magpies just critique your musical taste if you hang CDs out.

Hedges help protect smaller birds.
There's fewer hedges on my street now and the sparrow population has really declined to almost zero.

We have a magpie at work that runs up to people shouting. He seems really cross at us using his campus!

We found a dead magpie in our garden. The rest of the magpies guarded the body for nearly a week and surrounded it with a circle of twigs. It was quite moving to see them clearly mourning their dead companion.

That's incredible!

OK, crows, but ...

Other Corvids don’t hate Rooks, they commonly co exist with Jackdaws, nesting close together. Rooks are the gentle, polite Corvids.
Op Magpies are impossible to deter, they are highly intelligent and they do predate the nests of songbirds. I love all Corvids but Magpies can be a problem for songbirds if they are around in large numbers. They kill my neighbour’s swallow chicks for instance. The only way to help is to make your garden as bird friendly as possible, and to put up nest boxes that are designed to keep the chicks safe from predation. Lots of dense hedging with things like roses, great for nesting songbirds and harder for Magpies to access.

Magpies can be vicious sadly.

We've had a sparrow hawk catch a sparrow and then beat it to death on the ground before flying off with it. Sadly, it's nature, and all birds need to eat. I've seen sparrows catch butterflies, tear off the wings and then eat them, so they aren't the fluffy little friendly birds they appear. Same with robins who are very territorial and attack other robins in their area. Don't throw stones at them, they are just doing what they need to do to survive.

Now we see pigeons and seagulls on our lawn too. And when we do ... not a corvid in sight.

However despite the preponderance of magpies, the evening is still a cacophony of songbirds.One day I really must get around to trying to (get an app to 😀) identify them

Thank you for the link. That’s a lovely story.

It didn’t do it out of spite it did it for dinner. As it flew off with it probably it’s chicks’ dinner. Think of it like chicken nuggets 😬

I was watching a magpie getting closer and closer to a new lamb earlier in spring. i was just about to go chase it off, when a red kite dropped like a vertical arrow and saw it off instead

We regularly have 4-Magpies in our garden (including 2-young ones that fledged here) and they get on fine with the other birds.
Even as I write this, they are on the lawn along with Starlings, Sparrows & Wagtails enjoying some mealworms.
I think if there is food & water to share, they get on ok

This is one of the most bizarre threads I've read on MN and thats saying something. Imagine pretending to love nature but only if it's your preferred bird and wishing death on others, as a result. Dont watch any nature documentaries. You might swoon!!!!

Magpies have young to feed, just as all the other birds do.
The larger the bird, the fewer chicks they have, so nature already accommodates the loss.
Cats do far more damage to wildlife than birds predating each other.
I agree its upsetting to see, but nature is generally quite brutal.
We had a sparrowhawk take a starling in our garden last year. This year we've had new neighbours with free-ranging cats and they stalk and try to catch everything.

It’s bizarre.

I wonder if the OP worries about the vast number of defenceless baby butterflies massacred by bluetits feeding their broods? 😂

That's interesting to hear this as I found a decapitated great tit in our back garden and presumed it was the neighbour's cat which prowls along the fence under the tree where it was nesting. I even bought an ultrasonic cat deterrent. But it could easily have been magpies as they are taking over the area since nesting opposite the house.

I love birds, but they don't all live in harmony! Birds attack other birds all the time. Robins are particularly vicious and kill other robins all the time. It's nature red in tooth and claw.

I was just about to say about robins - apparently they peck out the spinal cords of other robins. We think birdsong is so beautiful but really its mostly birds telling each other to fuck off.

Or discussing wind speed, wing spans, power-to-weight ratios and a fair bit about berries 😀

It’s either fuck off, fuck me or (especially in the case of pheasants) ‘what the fuck?’

Nah. Humans do it too! I live by the coast and love sea gulls. My mum has one at her house that knocks on her bedroom window (ground floor, bungalow) at 8am to ask for whatever scraps she has - every, single, day! We call him Mr Wobbly as he lacks a bit of grace whenever he lands or takes off. He didn't come one morning and my mum moped for the whole day. She has a cat too, but the cat couldn't care less as long as he is being fed as well!