Magpie ordinary: features of bird behavior. 50 interesting and curious facts about magpies

landscaping 18.10.2019

landscaping

Magpie chick is an interesting creature. Feeding him at home is not as difficult as birds of prey. After all, the magpie chick is omnivorous. Another question: why do you need to do this?

Magpie pest

Rural residents involved in poultry breeding have many enemies. So the magpie brings them a lot of trouble and trouble. Being an omnivorous bird, she does not disdain to feast on chickens, ducklings, turkey poults. Yes, you also need to take care of feeding the offspring in the nest.

Moreover, sometimes, grabbing a rather large chick, she raises it above the ground, but, not holding it, can drop it. As a result, the chicken falls to the ground and breaks. Or he has an injured paw, for which the magpie dragged him up.

It happens that a magpie drags a small rabbit or even a kitten. And let's not even talk about pecked sunflowers, tomatoes, zucchini and berries. In short, one trouble from these impudent and gluttonous birds!

A creative way to turn a pest into a savior

As soon as the villagers try to scare away magpies from their yard. They just don't care. These beasts are cunning, fearless. And yet, one very resourceful person managed to outwit the magpie tribe. And for this he needed ... a magpie chick!

Helped to acquire such an unusual pet case. Magpie chick fell out of the nest. And now, having fed the baby, the person received a devoted friend.

And since the magpie chick grew up next to chickens, ducklings and turkeys, he did not even try to attack poultry. Moreover, the grown bird perceived the villager's yard as its own home. Therefore, she carefully guarded him from encroachments from the outside. Neither other people's cats, nor dogs, nor foxes could sneak in there unnoticed - the magpie instantly made such a noise that uninvited guests fled from the yard at full speed! And on occasion, the defender attacked strangers: she pecked at them, beat her wings.

How to care for a chick?

Of course, like any baby, the baby needs attention and care. Since the chick of a magpie is called a magpie, then we will call it in the future that way.

So, it is very difficult to leave a fledgling chick, as it needs warmth - 41 degrees. If the house has an egg incubator, then you can set the sensor in it to the desired indicator. Then temperature regime for the chick will be respected.

Some people manage to slip a shirt "for education" to cats, dogs, or even put it under the chicken under the chickens. But here you should be very careful and careful, you need to make sure that the foster mother does not offend the orphan.

magpies?

As mentioned above, this bird is omnivorous. Therefore, there are no special problems with food for her. But it is worth remembering that ant eggs are most loved by the magpie chick.

How to feed a feathered pet if these delicacies are not at hand? Either low-fat minced meat, low-fat cottage cheese, finely chopped liver and chicken hearts. Be sure to give the chick steamed cereal, fruit and vegetable puree. Shirts will not refuse small fish either.

How to feed a chemise if he still does not know how to eat?

It is good if an already fledged chick fell into the hands of a person. He actively opens his mouth, noticing the approaching person. And even begins to utter cries, hungry. It is more difficult when the baby is very tiny.

Even knowing how to feed a magpie chick at home, not everyone succeeds. Helpless lump does not open his mouth! And if a person fails to make him swallow the first piece of food, he will simply die of hunger.

For feeding, you can use tweezers, gently opening the baby's beak with a piece of food and thrusting it deeper, almost into the throat. Otherwise, the chicks do not hold food, and it falls on the floor.

You need to feed a small chemise every 3 hours, gradually increasing the time gaps between feedings. A fledgling chick can easily go without food for 8-10 hours.

Gradually, you need to teach the chick to take food from below. To do this, put food on a plate and put it in front of the shirt. Then you should draw his attention to the food by tapping with tweezers, the sharp end of a knife or fingers next to it. You can take some food with some tool, lift it up and drop it down. Usually the chick pays attention to a moving object that creates an imitation of a live insect or small reptile.

It is useful to give the bird boiled chopped spaghetti, the size corresponding to the length of earthworms. The shirt will quickly learn to swallow pasta. This will help him in the future to find worms in nature and eat them.

Raising a baby magpie

In addition to learning to take food on their own, the owner of the pet must teach him the first flight lessons. To do this, you need to push the shirt off low objects, for example, from a table or stool. You should not take risks and throw off the chick from the balcony of the second floor. Moreover, it will be completely superfluous to start training from the roof of the house. You should act carefully, gradually increasing the height.

In parallel, a person can teach a bird to talk. Of course, a magpie will not be able to sing modern songs and romances, like a parrot, but she can learn a few phrases.

In general, this bird is considered one of the smartest. She is the only one, for example, she recognizes herself in the mirror, while the parrot takes her reflection for another feathered one. So some people try to train the magpie, teach it some tricks.

For example, a bird can sort items into boxes based on their colors. A funny number is obtained when a magpie pulls a rope tied to a pistol trigger. When a shot is fired, the bird falls on its back, as if it had been killed. You can teach the magpie to say something at this time, for example: “Sentry!”, “Killed!”, “Ah, my life is a penny ...”

But the most favorite pastime of the white-sided is to steal different necessary to a person things and hide them in one place she knows. This is how a bird will drag something away and put it where a person cannot get it from.

She sits down, satisfied, and watches with interest as a person looks for his loss. Now believe the saying about bird brains!

Class: Aves = Birds
Subclass: Ornithurae, or Neornithes = Fan-tailed birds, new birds
Superorder: Neognathae = New-palatine birds, neognats
Order: Passeriformes = Passeriformes, passeriformes
Suborder: Oscines = Singers
Family: Corvidae = Ravens

Magpie in the house

All the features, pleasant and unpleasant, inherent in the black family, are especially pronounced in magpie *. She gets used to a person surprisingly quickly. Her arrogance is exceptional. By cunning and caution, the magpie resembles a crow and even a raven. In addition, she is very curious: not a single incident in the yard is complete without her. However, very often the magpie itself happens main reason different incidents. The magpie, like a raven and partly a crow, is without a doubt one of the most carnivorous birds in the black family. Most of all, Magpie loves raw meat and small fresh fish. I fed my forty pieces of river toothless and barley, tadpoles and adult frogs. All this is almost completely not eaten by jackdaws. By the way, according to my observations, forty frogs are also caught in nature, White bread she eats quite well, but does not refuse porridge, such as millet (the main food of my jackdaws), only when she is very hungry. Willingly magpies eat all sorts of berries, including elderberry.

One of my magpies was placed in an enclosure along with four; jackdaws and two starlings. All the chicks already flew well and looked like quite adults. One day I heard the squeak of a starling. It turned out that the magpie drove him behind the box and pecked him with his strong beak. We barely managed to save the victim. I didn't remove the second starling right away. An hour later, the villainess killed this chick and ate almost everything.

When I let a young rook into the enclosure, a bird twice as large as a magpie, she pounced on her new companion and began to peck at his crown. Only in the evening the rook regained his rights, the robber no longer dared to fly close to him. In the Bauman House of Pioneers in Moscow, a foster magpie lived for more than a year. Young naturalists brought from the camps the second one, just fed. The birds were put together in one cage. They seemed to get along with each other, did not fight, behaved calmly. But on the third morning, only the older magpie was alive in the cage. She killed her brother, thoroughly plucked and gutted him, and ate a significant part of the insides.

A few years earlier, another magpie, a universal favorite, lived with the young naturalists. She flew around the room, had several favorite places under the ceiling, but she always returned to her cage to rest and spend the night. All attempts to lock the bird to no avail. She always managed to open the lock and fly out into the room for a walk. If the crow drags and hides only shiny things, then the magpie steals everything that it can carry. It can be seen that is why it is called the "magpie-thief." She instantly pulls pieces of food in all corners and digs them in. The bird even stores porridge, which it then never eats. Everywhere she keeps pace first, snatches the best pieces from the jackdaws, feels like a mistress always and everywhere, and often makes people laugh with her funny antics.

One magpie was taken from the nest by a chick during my work on the expedition. We lived in a tent, and the bird flew freely through the forest. Everyone loved her very much, although she was mischievous. Everyone will sit down to dine on the terrace - a magpie will fly off the tree onto the table, quickly, quickly peck at someone from a plate, and even take a mouthful of food with it. At first, such impudence aroused the indignation of many members of the expedition. But it was useless to drive away the magpie. She jumped over her hand, dodged, jumped all over the table. Often, cups and spoons flew to the floor. With its feet, the bird fell into someone's plate, so much so that the spray flew in all directions. Everyone had to come to terms with the persistent bird and each time patiently wait for it to eat.

Magpie knew her name very well - Belobok. She was good at distinguishing people. Most of all, the bird trusted my nine-year-old daughter, who always fed her. At the call of the girl, the magpie flew from the barn where she loved to sit, sideways - like a magpie - galloped to her teacher and sat on her shoulder. Once we went away with my daughter for a few days. Upon arrival, the first thing they told us was: "Belobok fell ill, hohls, does not eat." And at that very moment, before we had time to get out of the car, a magpie flew up, sat on her daughter's shoulder, muttered in her own way. The whole disease of iapoLa" those who watched this scene decided that the bird simply missed its mistress ....

Many people know the magpie, and it is very difficult to confuse it with another bird. A lot of interesting things are written about her in the article. From it it will become clear to you: forty - migrant or not. The appearance of the magpie living in our area, the way of life and much more are described. The topic of a bird that lives in Europe is slightly touched upon.

Magpie: bird description and appearance

Our magpie is called white-sided because of its interesting color. Her tummy and some of her wings are white, and the bird itself is black. In some ways, it is similar to a crow and a jackdaw. But she has a beautiful, long and even tail, which is also black.

Depending on how the light falls, the bird shimmers with blue, purple and greenish hues. But after the spring molt, they disappear. This is especially true for males. At the end of spring, this overflow is almost imperceptible. But after a while, new plumage appears, and the feathers begin to sparkle, as before.
Magpie ordinary has a size of almost half a meter. The wingspan reaches 90 centimeters. The tail of the magpie is stepped and longer than the body itself. Males are much larger than females, although they do not even differ in color and appearance.

The bird cannot be confused with any other. In addition to the beautiful and interesting color, she has a peculiar voice. Specific sounds are heard in it: "cha-cha-cha". If the magpie is alarmed by something, then these sounds are pronounced very quickly and often. But when everything is calm, a slow chirring is heard. Complex trills of females and males are heard during courtship. They are like singing, sometimes interrupted by screams.

Relationship between female and male

Magpies differ from many other birds in their relationships. This is especially noticeable during courtship. The common magpie is a monogamous nature. Accordingly, these birds form monogamous families. But almost a third of these families break up. And the reason for the "divorce" is the mercantile nature of forty. Another very weighty reason for the "termination" of their relationship is living space. In general, everything is like with people.

Lifestyle forty

The magpie is a cautious bird, it is afraid of dense forest, therefore it chooses safe areas for nesting. He loves to live near people's houses. She also chose small forest plantations, copses, parks, gardens, dense alleys. Birds desperately protect their tree with a nest from relatives. This is because they have a lot of competition for good living space. Usually the pair choose trees with dense crowns for nesting. This provides them with protection and security. But if for some reason it was not possible to occupy such a tree, then this is fraught with the collapse of the family. So you have to be vigilant in protecting your territory.
Like a person, not many people get prestigious apartments. Those who did not have time to occupy the dense thickets of trees huddle for some time on the outskirts. Sometimes they nest on single trees, which does not provide the magpies and their offspring with proper security.

If a successful replacement for this housing is not found in the near future, then such a "marriage", even the strongest, is doomed to failure. It also happens that in a family that occupies a decent living space, one of the magpie spouses dies. Then the losers hastily, without any hesitation, occupy a decent apartment. They drive the "widow" or "widower" out of their nest. They are not even embarrassed by the presence of chicks. They simply throw out other people's nests, and build new ones in their place.

Magpie - bird , which builds interesting and complex nests. The base is made of thick branches, and the outer part is coated with clay with the addition of grass. Inside the bottom is lined with thin twigs. From the same components, the magpie makes a kind of roof over its nest. It mainly serves to camouflage from the attack of a predatory beast on housing. Thus, the birds are trying to protect themselves and their families. But this roof does not provide protection from rain and snow. Here is such a complex house that a magpie makes for itself. What bird can make such intricate nests? Only a few.

In appearance, it resembles a kind of ball. On the side, the bird makes a hole. It serves as the entrance to the apartment. One nest on a tree is not enough; next to it, the couple builds another one. After the construction of the second dwelling, the magpie settles in the best of them. And what I didn’t like, it stays empty all my life. But another couple is not allowed to settle in it. However, other large birds, such as owls, settle there quite calmly.

Magpie is a bird with a rather mean character. She calmly goes to another partner with a good living space, thereby betraying her soul mate. Scientists have recorded that the offspring of such individuals is considered more viable and numerous than that of forty faithful to each other.

A little about the European magpie

In addition to the usual, there is the so-called European magpie. Outwardly, it is identical to ours. But her environment is different. The European magpie lives throughout Europe - from Greece to Scandinavia. She also took a fancy to North Africa. It is found exclusively in the coastal regions of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. A small population of magpies can be found in Kamchatka. But in the northwestern part, the population of these birds is listed in the Red Book. There they are a monument of nature.

Food

Magpies have no special preferences in the diet. They are absolutely omnivorous birds. They feed on both small mammals and insects. Magpie is a bird that is prone to eating other people's chicks and eggs. It happens that she steals bones from dogs and cats. Often birds encircle fields and gardens and thereby spoil the harvest. They also feed on small rodents. Thanks to its powerful beak, the magpie tears the victim into pieces, holding the carcass itself with one paw. Also, the beak helps her to easily break through the eggs. She will never be hungry thanks to her quick wit and skill.

Sedentary lifestyle

Many people have a natural question: is the magpie a migratory bird or not? Due to the fact that she never leaves herself hungry, she does not need to fly to other lands. She eats everything. And physically the bird is prepared by nature so as to withstand even severe frost. She leads The exception is the magpie, which lives in the expanses of Scandinavia. Only she is looking for more favorable conditions for wintering.

Conclusion

Magpie is a highly intelligent bird. She knows how to express her sadness. The magpie is the only bird that can recognize itself in a mirror. There were such cases that in captivity she even began to speak in words understandable to humans. This bird has an interesting character trait: it is attracted to everything that glitters. She picks up her find, and then hides it well. Also, the bird attracts attention with its family relationships. The quarrels of two magpies resemble human ones. They have family problems, just like us.

A lot of fairy tales, poems and a variety of nursery rhymes are dedicated to this amazing bright bird. Many are familiar with the lines: “Forty-white-sided cooked porridge, fed the children ...”. Perhaps for many in childhood, these lines became the first acquaintance with wonderful world birds. Many books are decorated with pictures of magpies, because they are so bright and memorable.

General information

They say about the magpie that she is very smart, agile, cunning and dexterous. It is believed that these birds even have a special language, thanks to which they are able to communicate with each other. important information about danger.

Magpies belong to the group of birds of the corvid family. It includes representatives of 9 genera. All kinds of forty's outward signs are similar, despite the fact that their genera are not always closely related to each other. In connection with the external similarity, they are united under one common name.

There are a total of approximately 30 species of these birds. Crows and jays are closest to magpies among corvids.

Between females and males in these birds outward difference practically none, although the latter are slightly larger. The weight of the latter is just over 230 grams, while the females weigh approximately 200 grams. Visually, such a small difference is difficult to determine. The body length of the magpie reaches an average of 50 centimeters, the wingspan is about 90 centimeters.

Magpie is unique in its color. All her plumage is black and white color scheme. Her neck, head, back and chest are black with a metallic sheen and shimmer. Under the rays of the sun on the black plumage, greenish and purple shades. The shoulders and belly are white (therefore called the white-sided magpie), and sometimes the tips of the wings are painted white.

The long tail of the bird is painted black. In spring, the color of the bird's feathers becomes faded and not so impressive. It is connected with molting.

And young magpies have almost the same color as adults.

Distribution, habitats

Where does the magpie live vivo a habitat? The distribution area of this bird is concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is found on all its continents - in Africa, Eurasia and North America. Particularly extensive are the distribution areas of the common magpie, covering the entire zone temperate climate Eurasia (with the exception of the Far East).

Other species have narrower ranges. For example, the California magpie is found only in the California Peninsula, and only the thick-billed azure magpie lives in Taiwan. The habitats of the blue magpie are a real mystery. They cover two areas: one - Far East(China, Korea, Japan, northern Mongolia, Primorye), the second - the extreme west of Europe (Portugal and Spain). To date, science has not given any explanation for how birds of the same species became so isolated from each other.

All species have similar habitats, as well as what magpies eat. They prefer to settle in the forests of the most different types- broad-leaved, coniferous and tropical jungles. They live in city parks, in dense thickets, and in light forests, and in forest plantations. In search of food, they visit rather open spaces: glades, wastelands, shores of lakes and rivers, meadows and fields.

There are species that keep most seasons singly and form couples and groups only after hatching eggs. There are also those that live in small flocks, and during the nesting period they break up into separate pairs.

Habits and behavioral features

Magpie is a bird whose gait is unique and special. On the ground, it moves mainly in jumps and also moves in jumps along the branches of trees, and it does this very quickly and dexterously. In flight, the bird glides in waves.

Her voice is not melodious, but you can hear her quite often. They chirp in a rather specific way, and it is impossible to confuse this voice with the sounds of other birds. The magpie chirp often serves as a signal for other birds, for example, jerky and fast sounds appear when danger arises. Birds fly away at such sounds.

It has also been noticed that with the sounds “kick” or “kia”, the magpie says that this is its territory. The voice of the magpie bird says a lot not only to the birds, but to all the inhabitants of the forest. For example, they can signal the approach of a hunter.

Lifestyle

In summer, you can rarely see magpies in the city park, but in winter they often look into the feeders of other birds. Magpies in nature lead a sedentary lifestyle, they never leave their homes for a long time. Where they are a large number of, they can form flocks in which they roam together. More often this phenomenon can be observed in the fall.

With the onset of cold weather, by winter, when a lot of snow falls, together with jackdaws and crows, magpies scatter to small and larger settlements, where it is easiest for them to find food. Magpies are wintering birds.

You can find out more about what the magpie eats later in the article. But here it should be noted that local residents of villages are not always friendly to these birds, as they always steal something edible. For them, even evil dogs are not a hindrance, whom they deftly deceive and distract, and then eat well. With all this, it should be noted that magpies - wild birds and it's impossible to tame them.

These birds always try to stay close to each other, which helps them at the moment of need to defend themselves and fight for territory.

The magpie is a picky bird, as its food is the most varied. She uses almost everything that she manages to get, even the bone that she steals from a dog. Magpies destroy the nests of many birds, in which they eat eggs, or small, newly hatched chicks.

Speaking about what the magpie eats, it should be noted that it often brings problems to other birds, especially in spring. They often jump near the bushes in search of nests, in which they find food for themselves. Other birds suffer from this.

Small rodents can sometimes be prey, with which magpies deal with their strong and powerful beak. These birds are content with very small food, for example, caterpillars, insects and beetles. They feed on a variety of plant foods - cereals, nuts, fruits of trees and shrubs, as well as seeds of a wide variety of plants.

And what does magpie eat in winter? In the cold season, these smart birds accompany large predators, looking for carrion, picking up garbage, fearlessly visiting their feeders. Moreover, they show such courage, which sometimes turns into arrogance and impudence. You can often watch how clever magpies fuss right under the nose of a bear, fox or eagle. In winter, they make regular movements, gathering on the outskirts and territories. settlements, and search garbage dumps with food waste. By evening, they return to the place of their permanent overnight stay.

A little about the enemies

Magpies have many natural enemies. They are hunted by eagles, falcons, sea eagles, hawks, eagle owls, large owls and wild cats. Their nests, as noted above, are ruined by martens, and in the countries of the tropics - by snakes.

With all this, magpies live well and prosper to a greater extent due to their quick wits and dexterity.

Conclusion

In the cultures of peoples different countries magpies occupied and occupy different positions. Indians North America associated them with the spirits of the forest, the inhabitants East Asia they were messengers of happiness and enjoyed considerable honor.

Only in Europe did magpies not have a very good relationship with people. Farmers disliked these birds due to the fact that they picked up scattered grains during the sowing period. And for hunters, they always seemed to be evil - the chirping magpie notifies the entire forest of danger. Therefore, hunters often killed them. Scientists have also classified these birds as harmful because they destroy the nests of many songbirds.

In fact, there is a benefit from them - magpies eat harmful insects.

Magpie is a conspicuous bird that draws attention to itself with its contrasting plumage.

Photo: magpie in flight.

What does a magpie look like?

Magpie has black with a metallic, green or blue tint feathers on the back, head and chest. All other parts of the body are covered with snow-white plumage. But every year in the spring and summer there is a molt, during which all the colors fade, acquire a grayish tint and practically merge.

In terms of size, females and males are almost the same, males do not exceed 240 grams, and females - 100 grams. The length of the bird from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail is 50 cm, and the length from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other is on average 1 meter.

Chicks in color practically do not differ from adults. Young birds do not have pure white feathers, a metallic blue sheen is present only in the middle third of the wing. A little earlier, young magpies molt.

Photo: magpie in flight.

Photo: magpie on a branch.

Photo: look of a magpie.

Magpie Intelligence

Magpies are perhaps the most intellectually developed birds on Earth. They are able to show sadness; magpies have several social rituals. Some magpies are able to imitate the voices of other birds, animals, insects, pursuing their own goals. For example, magpies imitate the chirping of locusts as a decoy for this insect. Magpies are the only birds capable of recognizing themselves in the mirror.

Communication

Magpies have a very diverse language, consisting mainly of chirring and croaking sounds. The meanings of signals forty are very much dependent on the circumstances, the tempo of the signal, its length, loudness. So, a warning call is used by hens even in the absence of immediate danger, and by males only when one occurs.

Forty signals have a degree of emotionality, the more excited the bird, the faster and more intermittently it emits chirps. Accordingly, the reaction of fellow tribesmen also varies - at a high rate of chirping they fly away, and at a low rate they only stop.

The mating singing of magpies is individual, depending on the time and the specific magpie. It can be arrhythmic gentle trills, pipes, and, sometimes, even imitation of other animals.

In general, forty have a rather rich vocabulary. Denoting the boundaries of their territory, the magpies call "kya", "kik" from the crowns of trees, the chicks, asking their mother for food, squeak "pirr", and the first-year-olds report to the old magpies "yshiyak". As you can see, for almost every case, the crows have their own signal.

Habits and reproduction

Magpies are sedentary, paired birds. Pairs are formed in the first year of life, the first offspring appear in the second year, after the nest is built. They always build several nests, from five to ten, but live in only one. In April, the female lays five eggs and incubates them for eighteen days.

It is not uncommon to see small, five-headed flocks chirping on trees - this is an adult couple and their chicks. Magpies honor their territory and, if necessary, staunchly protect it from other birds and even from some mammals.

Photo: a pair of forty.

A magpie drags a branch to build a nest.

Photo: Magpie collects materials for building a nest.

Magpie chick galloped along the shore of the lake. And adult magpies flew nearby, guarding him with a cry.

What do magpies eat

A hungry magpie is a casuistic phenomenon. Like most corvids, the magpie has a great range and dexterity in feeding. She can destroy the nests of other birds, eating eggs and even chicks, steal food from animals and humans, insects and even mammals are used. Magpies are omnivores. Their diet contains both plant and animal foods. Magpies cause some damage to agricultural land, pecking grain from the fields.

The powerful beak of the magpie is its faithful assistant in search of food. With it, she splits the shell, bones, tears off pieces of flesh from large prey, digs out larvae from the ground.

They bring magpies and benefit, destroying pests (weevils, bedbugs, locusts).