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.
Interesting fact: It's true, magpies remember your face. They have excellent recall for faces and very long memories. So, if you've been swooped before, or even if you just look like someone they swooped last year, you're likely to get the same treatment again.
Magpies are 'like dogs'
"They will form very long friendships, like dogs," she said. "They will introduce their young [to you] and they will be the most charming birds. "Even during the breeding season you can come close to them because they know you'll do no harm."
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.
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.
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.
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.
However, as the well-known rhyme shows, it is generally only seeing a lone magpie that is supposed to bring bad luck. We're not entirely sure why this is but we do know that magpies often mate for life so seeing a single magpie may mean it has lost its mate and therefore the chance of it bringing bad luck is higher.
Befriending a magpie
Gisela says you could also try and temp them with a little magpie-friendly food to show you aren't a threat. If, for whatever reason, the magpie feels threatened by you, try not to run away from them fast.
Magpies swoop in spring
During this time, they will defend their nests and chicks, but also defend their surrounding territory. Male adults are using their body language – beak clapping, whooshing above your head and screeching – to warn you to keep away from their eggs or newly-hatched chicks.
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.
Magpies have shown the ability to make and use tools, imitate human speech, grieve, play games, and work in teams.
Magpies love:
Big, old trees which give them somewhere safe to build their nests and sleep at night.
founder Jon Clark also recommends keeping calm in the face of magpie mobbing: “Try and keep eye contact with the birds, that works more often than not—especially if you're walking or running,” he says, “If one swoops and you turn and look at it, keep your eye on it and edge out of its territory.
They believe the magpie will never inject any sort of bad luck if the person keeps the bird happy or shows utter respect. 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.
Remember, magpies are simply trying to protect their territory. Stay calm, protect your face and walk away quickly. A magpie may become aggressive towards people because it has been harassed in the past. Please do not throw things at magpies or chase them.
Their main diet in summer is grassland invertebrates, such as beetles, flies, caterpillars, spiders, worms and leatherjackets. In winter, they eat more plant material, such as wild fruits, berries and grains, with household scraps and food scavenged from bird tables or chicken runs, pet foods etc.
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.
Not only is bird feeding bad for their health, Maguire says magpies can become territorial around people and other bird species when regularly encouraged into a garden with food. If you enjoy backyard visits from rosellas, rainbow lorikeets and parrots, it's not a good idea to encourage the local magpies.
'Young birds and subordinates will bow down and shake their tail feathers when a dominant male or female is near,' Connelly explains.
Popular superstitions
A way of combating the bad tidings is to say, "Good morning, Mr Magpie - how's your lady wife today?" This means you're showing the magpie due respect, hoping that he won't pass bad luck on to you.
been very important to Australian Aboriginal people. Aborigi- nal peoples stories often used the Magpie as an example to. teach stories based on the Magpie's motherly love, protection. and provision of food and warnings.
Unfortunately, another expert noted that this can backfire, given that if you mess up and do “something as minor as looking in the direction of the nest” the magpie will also remember that and pursue you with a vengeance due to their “low tolerance threshold”.
They can also feel, have empathy and even grieve for the death of a partner; magpies in particular, apart from parrots, can form long-term friendships with humans or their dogs.
Magpies hold impromptu funerals and mourn their dead
The magpies will join in the squawking, the sounds getting louder as they continue to gather around the body. This noise will then fall silent for a period of reflection, where the magpies will walk around their deceased kind.