r/magpies Nov 20 '23

behaviour around wildlife

58 Upvotes

I have seen a lot of behaviour on this subreddit which really concerns me, it basically consists in acting towards the birds for the person's own benefit, instead of keeping wildlife's best interests as the first priority. I joined reddit for this reason, to make this post and therefore hopefully help.

It's so great that everyone loves these birds so much, they're beautiful and I love them too. But it is even more important to educate ourselves so that we don't unintentionally harm them.

Mods, please pin/sticky whatever it's called some sort of post at the top of sub which advises best practice around wildlife, and the legalities around native bird ownership, including addressing the fact that it is illegal to take birds from the wild and make them pets. I recommend as well posting from credible sources like Gisela Kaplan, who is a very good authoritative source on magpies.

Anyway, stuff not to do:

  • don't feed them anything you bought from the supermarket, that includes mince or seeds or fruit or anything.
    • when it comes to mince and store-bought meat especially, it does not have an appropriate nutrient profile, so the birds can lead to brittle, easily broken bones and deformities.
      • as well, mince gets caught in the beak and cause illness and death due to bacteria build up.
    • when wild birds are made to feed all together because humans are feeding them, this spreads disease like crazy (especially bad for parrots, but bad for all birds)
  • stop handling them!
    • you can pass diseases onto them
    • they can pass diseases onto you
    • they can get stressed out
      • stress can make them sick
      • stress can make them lash out, harming you and themselves
  • don't hose them down if it's hot
  • don't let your cats and dogs free roam outside
  • don't bother them if they're kind of face down with their wings spread in the sun (they're probably sunbathing)

stuff to do:

  • call a wildlife rescue org if you think something is wrong
  • provide bird baths that are supplied with fresh water daily
  • very rarely you can supplement **a bit (not a lot) with live mealworms or crickets, under the following conditions of food stress only:
    • if it is drought
    • a long period of wild weather
    • if the parents are extremely harassed during breeding and rearing
  • create safe habitat on your balcony, your private or community garden that encourages the birds presence

I hope this is helpful and that people will interact with the birds without ego, but with respect.

edited to add: humans can alter populations and ecosystems by feeding one family/species. Here's an anecdote about how I fucked up and learned:

I was supplementing some breeding currawongs with crickets where I lived, not all the time, randomly but semi-frequently, I thought I was helping - I moved midway through the chicks growing up, they weren't newborns, they weren't fledged, somewhere inbetween. The move was an unexpected one. I went back once or twice to check on their progress, and one of the three had died - there had always been one that didn't fight for food as hard as the others. By supplementing their food so much, I basically caused more suffering, because that chick was older when it died, so would've been more aware of the pain of starvation. It would've died sooner if I hadn't been supplementing, and the pain wuld've been less. If I didn't have to move and had kept supplementing, maybe it was a weak chick generally and would've died when it was a bit older, which would have prolonged suffering further.


r/magpies 16h ago

Cute guy

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210 Upvotes

He really likes tuna


r/magpies 6h ago

Left out walnuts and caught this on camera

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26 Upvotes

r/magpies 7h ago

Rare Brown magpie in my garden plus Squirrel

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17 Upvotes

r/magpies 13h ago

Looking for magpie references

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49 Upvotes

Call it serendipity or just the tech industry’s spy work, but Reddit decided to show me this community as I’m painting a magpie and I thought it’s as good a place as any to ask for a specific reference shot.

The reference I’ve been using (top left) is by a local artist Annie Palmer. But I’ve followed loosely and it’s also a translation of a translation, so I’m looking for a real-world reference to fix up the anatomy and add some details/features that come from reality rather than my limited memory.

Google ain’t cutting it since it’s not images of maggies curated by magpie lovers, like this subreddit. Do any of you beautiful people happen to have a shot of a magpie in roughly this pose I could have? Thanks


r/magpies 12h ago

Maggie mates that recognise me whenever I walk my dog at the park and come over for a treat, TIL their preference is yoghurt drops.

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30 Upvotes

r/magpies 1d ago

Caught them leaving me a present 🥹❤️

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119 Upvotes

r/magpies 1d ago

Log a rhythm

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267 Upvotes

r/magpies 1d ago

Visiting The Adelaide Airport

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76 Upvotes

r/magpies 2d ago

Morning Visit

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183 Upvotes

Our little family were loud this morning. I feel so lucky to have these guys come sing for us.

That's also our corella in the background saying 'Hey Mate' to them 😆


r/magpies 1d ago

Azure-winged Magpie

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64 Upvotes

r/magpies 1d ago

corvid companionship

7 Upvotes

Hi 👋🏻

First time poster here, recent follower.

I just moved and I have a small backyard now. Every day there are half a dozen magpies that bounce around the yard and hang out on the fence. I also see the occasional crow. I don't provide any food or water, yet, but would like to treat them.

I am seeking community advice on style/size of a bird bath for water, and how to feed them, what to feed them, and how often? I would like to attempt to befriend some of them and possibly gift swap without them becoming dependant.

Thanks! 🙂


r/magpies 2d ago

Is this a whole family?

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227 Upvotes

And today I have five visit me at the park - just from whistling to them! It was unreal! Love these birds. 💜💜


r/magpies 2d ago

What’s wrong with his foot?

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62 Upvotes

I have a magpie friend that has been coming over for a few weeks and have noticed that he only has one leg/foot, and that the leg/foot he has is very wart-y.

Does anyone know what this might be? It looks pretty gnarly.


r/magpies 3d ago

I love this crazy bird so much y’all 😂😍

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352 Upvotes

For those who have seen a couple of my previous posts about this darling sweet girl Pica- here she is again 😂🥰

I was in the kitchen doing the dishes & saw a flash of grey in my peripheral version with a FLAPFLAPFLAP- and here she was standing on my kitchen bench saying hello 🥹😂

My back doors are left open slightly during most days when home & she just wanders in & out as she pleases haha, it’s so precious.

After this she could hear my 4 yr old daughter talking in the lounge so she hopped off the bench & did her little velociraptor run into the lounge room at the front of the house and started singing and chatting away to her.

I love this beautiful girl so much 🤍🩶🖤


r/magpies 3d ago

Adelaide. This guy and usually 4 of his fiends visit me often. They're not so keen on Tilly (its mutual)

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133 Upvotes

r/magpies 3d ago

Friends stopped by for a photoshoot

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288 Upvotes

Sunny afternoon here in Adelaide so they dropped by to hang out and pose before serenading me.


r/magpies 4d ago

Magpie enjoying the sun.

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189 Upvotes

He was pretty tame too.


r/magpies 4d ago

Goood morning

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185 Upvotes

r/magpies 4d ago

Queen Maggie

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87 Upvotes

r/magpies 5d ago

Kibble for my mates

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250 Upvotes

#magpie


r/magpies 5d ago

The very rare and not often photographed Midpoo Magpie.

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81 Upvotes

r/magpies 6d ago

Summer bath

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110 Upvotes

r/magpies 6d ago

Magpies enjoying a shower

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1.1k Upvotes

r/magpies 5d ago

I took this a while ago but I hope yall like it

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43 Upvotes