Note: When feeding stone fruits or fruits with seeds such as Apples, Plums and Grapes - seeds must be removed! While fruit and vegetable are fantastic for your bird, they do not serve as a complete diet and should be supplemented with other dry foods such as seeds, nuts and pellets.
You can also give them wild fruits as a treat. Avoid feeding magpies raw meat, cheese, and bread.
Raw meat, cheese and bread off the menu
Brisbane bird and exotic animal vet Deborah Monks said raw meat and mince, although popular, did the most damage to magpie health.
The diet of a magpie
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.
Berries and small fruits, including blueberries, raspberries, currants, blackberries, mulberries, beautyberries, serviceberries, sumac, holly, juniper, and viburnum are especially popular with many birds. Birds also enjoy other fruits such as oranges, plums, apples, grapes, cherries, crabapples, and prickly pear.
It doesn't make sense to let your bird fill up on something without value. Fruits also contain a great deal of sugar, which, in excess, can cause health and weight issues.
Potatoes. Baked potatoes (cold and opened up), roast and even mashed potatoes with added real fats are all suitable food for birds.
What do they eat? While the savvy birds, who mostly feed on live foods such as invertebrates or nuts, seeds or creepy crawlies like earthworms and spiders, will often approach humans for food, Maguire says it is imperative that people refrain from feeding magpies unless they have a permit.
Magpies luckily possess sizable, sturdy feet that are full of scales. They often employ these feet in times of eating, as they're capable of tightly seizing food. They have tough limbs in general, and as a result are efficient at jumping.
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.
Their varied diet does however have a darker side. In spring many smaller birds are nesting and magpies will, if given the chance, take bird eggs and also chicks from the nest.
Magpies are a common bird species known for their intelligence and adaptability. They are also known to have a varied diet, including fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes.
And since magpies can live between 25 and 30 years and are territorial, they can develop lifelong friendships with humans. This bond can extend to trusting certain people around their offspring.
What do magpies drink? Magpies drink water and only water. While they'll get some water from food, especially during summer, magpies will frequently drink from garden birdbaths and ponds. So make sure your birdbath is regularly topped up with fresh, clean water - this is one of the best ways to support garden birds!
Some of the best foods for gut-loading insects include fresh fruits and vegetables, such as leafy greens, carrots, and sweet potatoes. These foods are rich in essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that will help support the overall health of the insects and the magpies that consume them.
Fruits may be also offered and many birds will eat them. Do not give your bird chocolate, coffee or avocado – these are toxic to birds.
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. It may be possible to deter them by playing a tape of a crow or rook distress call.
In a series of experiments, British scientists debunked the common myth that magpies are inveterate trinket thieves. They found that far from being attracted to shiny objects, the black and white birds tended to avoid them.
“Both magpies and pigeons average 10 hours of sleep per night. We found that magpies lost more NREM sleep under white light than amber light. By comparison, pigeons lost around four hours of sleep under both white and amber light,” Dr Lesku said.
Grapes. These fun, bite-sized fruits are a hit with birds all over the world, and it's no wonder why. Grapes are very sweet to the taste and contain a rather high level of fructose. This means that they can work to give your bird a quick energy boost—but should be fed sparingly for that very reason.
Natural predators of magpies include various species of monitor lizard and the barking owl. Birds are often killed on roads or electrocuted by powerlines, or poisoned after killing and eating house sparrows or mice, rats or rabbits targeted with baiting. The Australian raven may take nestlings left unattended.
Cooked rice, brown or white (without salt added) benefits all sorts of birds during severe winter weather. Pigeons, doves and pheasants may eat uncooked rice but it's less likely to attract other species.
Bright yellow, red, and orange vegetables and fruits, including bell peppers, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, mango, papaya, and cantaloupe, all contain a great deal of vitamin A which is a critical nutrient in a birds' diet.
Porridge oats could also be a nutritious food source for the birds in your garden, and chances are you'll have them readily available in your kitchen. However, ensure the oats are uncooked as cooked oats could harden around a bird's beak.