Magpies have shown the ability to make and use tools, imitate human speech, grieve, play games, and work in teams.
Magpies can also be taught to speak. They hide food and can relocate hidden food with incredible accuracy." With regard to their intelligence, magpies are very much like fellow corvids – jays, rooks, ravens and crows, says Walt Koenig, a senior scientist with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Our canine friends are not nearly as clever as chimpanzees or dolphins. They rank in a similar way to cats, goats and pigs. And depressingly, in some ways, they aren't as smart as birds like pigeons and magpies.
About Magpies
Magpies are able to recognize themselves in a mirror – a testament to how self-aware they are. These birds are able to recognize up to 30 different human faces and can mimic human speech, earning the title of one of the smartest birds in the world!
When magpies have formed an attachment they will often show their trust, for example, by formally introducing their offspring. They may allow their chicks to play near people, not fly away when a resident human is approaching, and actually approach or roost near a human.
Befriending a magpie
If you have magpies around your home or neighbourhood that you would like to befriend, the first step is to let them see your face from a distance, trying to make eye contact with the bird. Gisela says you could also try and temp them with a little magpie-friendly food to show you aren't a threat.
Australian Magpies are strongly territorial and defend their territories both from other magpies as well as potential predators. Unfortunately, some individual magpies perceive humans as a potential threat and accordingly, swoop down with a fast warning flight, occasionally making contact.
Magpies feel grief and even hold funeral-type gatherings for their fallen friends and lay grass “wreaths” beside their bodies, an animal behaviour expert has claimed. Dr Bekoff, of the University of Colorado, said these rituals prove that magpies, usually seen as an aggressive predator, also have a compassionate side.
The months following fledging are a dangerous time for young magpies, with a high percentage failing to make it through the first year. If the young birds survive to breed, their average life expectancy is around three years. Some live much longer than this, with the oldest recorded being more than 21 years old.
Magpies will often mate for life. However, if a male is killed while the young are in the nest, the female will take a new partner. He'll help protect the young even though he's not genetically related to them.
Parrots and the corvid family of crows, ravens, and jays are considered the most intelligent of birds. Research has shown that these species tend to have the largest high vocal centers. Dr.
People are told that he/she should salute or wave at a magpie to show respect. Some also believe that greeting the bird also helps to fend off bad luck. The superstitions are considered so serious that some people wink when they see a single magpie to believe that they saw two magpies.
Border Collies have the highest IQ of any breed. These dogs have strong herding instincts and are smart enough to round up livestock. They learn commands quickly and are great problem solvers. Border Collies can learn a new command in minutes, with less than five repetitions.
Magpies often become more aggressive as the chicks become older, but swooping usually stops once the young have left the nest. A magpie's defensive behaviour can range from a non-contact swoop with or without beak snapping, through to pecking, dive-bombing and sometimes front-on attacks from the ground.
One for sorrow, two for mirth, Three for a wedding, four for a birth.
Their brain-to-body-mass ratio is outmatched only by that of humans and equals that of aquatic mammals and great apes. Magpies have shown the ability to make and use tools, imitate human speech, grieve, play games, and work in teams.
Deterrents for magpies
Half-full plastic bottles or CDs hung up in trees to scare the predators away. Magpies don't like the way light reflects from the surface. GuardnEyes scarecrow balloon, available from Dazer UK.
And throughout the rest of the world magpies are not always seen as so unlucky: China – a singing magpie will bring good fortune and is a symbol of happiness and good luck. Korea – magpies deliver good news and invite good people into your life.
Even in urban environments, seeing a Magpie is an omen of good fortune. If you have had plans on hold, sighting a Magpie means you've got the Universe's approval; now's the time to move ahead.
Magpies can remember faces and hold grudges. Researchers in Brisbane, Australia have found that magpies will remember facial features and target those individuals. The research involved an individual in a mask, coming close enough to nests to make the magpies feel threatened.
They love to chow down on small lizards, worms, frogs, and grain. These birds also enjoy eating scarab beetles, which is great news for your lawn. Magpies like to forage, which is why you'll often see them pecking at the dirt, looking for food.
Well, they're actually sunbathing, which is one of the birds' favourite leisure activities. And it has health benefits. The reason they attempt to spread their feathers is so the sun hits their skin and disturbs any parasites living underneath. Magpies are known for being very, very clean.
"It's their challenging, almost arrogant attitude, that has won them few friends," says a spokeswoman. "But magpies are beautiful striking birds." They are scavengers and collect objects, with a weakness for shiny things. They are also seen as predators, eating other birds' eggs and their young, as well as plants.
Magpies feed on small insects and animals that live on, or just under, the surface of the ground. A favourite is the scarab beetle, which is a major pest of garden lawns.
In 2009, a researcher from the University of Colorado published detailed observations of four magpies at a funeral alongside the corpse of a fifth bird, and concluded that the birds were displaying humanlike emotions.