A bat’s demise

01 Thursday Dec 2022

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bat, birding, birdwatching, British bats, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Magpie, Magpie takes bat, Pipistrelle

This is the sad tale of a bat that ventured out during the daytime only to be snaffled by a Magpie. I initially noticed something tiny flying around low to the water in Cardiff Bay but wasn’t sure what it was until it flew up and clung to a nearby concrete wall. Bat!

221201 bat (1)

Sadly, at the very moment I was taking some photos of it, a Magpie swooped down from above and grabbed the tiny beastie, carrying it up to the ledge above. The Magpie shook its prize a little, perhaps confused by what it had captured, then carried the bat into the nearby bushes. A Carrion crow followed the Magpie very shortly afterwards and, judging by the Magpie’s subsequent shrieking, I suspect the crow carried off the prize.

221201 bat (2)

Speaking to Amy, a local bat expert, it seems this individual was a species of Pipistrelle, which Amy thought looked underweight. That, plus the fact that it was flying during the day, means the bat was probably ill or injured, so its demise, though very unfortunate, may well have been inevitable.

Soaked

03 Tuesday May 2022

Posted by sconzani in birds

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Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Magpie

I can’t be sure what happened to this Magpie – it was soaked and shaking – but I suspect it had a narrow escape from a bird of prey, as Peregrines nest not too far from where it was sitting. It may have been struck, stunned but not caught, and plummeted in to the sea. Somehow the Magpie had made it from the water to the front yard of a nearby apartment building, and I can only hope it was able to recover fully from its drenching.

220503 magpie

A mischief

08 Tuesday Mar 2022

Posted by sconzani in birds

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, flock of Magpies, Magpie, mischief of Magpies

There’s something about the grassy playing fields of Cardiff’s Hamadryad Park that Magpies love, as I often see large numbers there, prospecting for worms and other insects. Today I counted 44 birds, and more could be heard and seen in the neighbouring trees.

220308 magpies (1)

I’ve just been reading that there are several collective nouns for a flock of Magpies – amongst them, congregation, tribe, charm – but the one I like best is mischief. The four birds shown below certainly looked like they were plotting some kind of devilment.

220308 magpies (2)

Feather: Magpie

08 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by sconzani in birds

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bird feathers, feather, Magpie, Magpie feather

If you think our Magpies are black and white, look again.

210208 magpie feather

132/366 A sanguine sight

11 Monday May 2020

Posted by sconzani in birds, mammal, nature

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Tags

bird eats rodent, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Magpie, Magpie eating rat, rat

Warning: the photos in this post are a bit gory!
The highlight – if this can be called a highlight – of my early morning local walk was this Magpie, feeding on the grass in a local park.

200511 magpie (1)

Although Magpies mostly eat fruit, seeds and small insects, they are also opportunists who will quite happily scavenge household food waste, eat the eggs and chicks of other birds, and graze on road kill and other carrion. This bird had found a dead rat and was happily pulling it apart for a bloody, but presumably nourishing breakfast.

At least, I hope it was nourishing – the rat could, I suppose, have been poisoned, and I’m not sure whether that would have an adverse effect on the bird. I hope not.

200511 magpie (4)

Nests

09 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

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birding, birdwatching, Buzzard, Carrion crow, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Magpie, Mute swan, nesting, nesting birds, signs of spring

Just like their makers, nests come in all shapes and sizes, and they’re made of all sorts of materials: twigs and branches, feathers, moss, paper and plastic, mud. They can be seen high in trees and on buildings, hidden secretively away in hedges and behind reeds, or plonked in a hole in a concrete platoon, as I saw some Coots do recently in Cardiff. Some are messy and loosely constructed, others are cosy and snug, still others are miniature works of art.

180409 buzzard

This is prime bird-nesting season so it’s quite likely you’ll see nests when you’re out walking. Please stay well away and do not disturb parents, eggs or babies. In Britain (and I’m sure in most countries) it is, in fact, an offence under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to ‘intentionally take, damage, destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built’ and to ‘intentionally take or destroy the egg of any wild bird’. (You can read more details here.) And, rest assured, my photos were all taken with a long lens, well away from the birds, so as not to disturb them.

A mulish Magpie

15 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, spring

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, European magpie, Magpie, nest building, nesting, nesting birds, Spring is in the air

Spring is definitely in the air here in south Wales. Wildflowers are wakening and blossom is bursting, migrating creatures are on the move and those that don’t migrate are thinking about procreation. For birds, that means nest building, and this Magpie obviously had some rather grandiose ideas about the size of nest it was going to construct. But had it bitten off more than it could chew?

Success!

180315 Magpie nest building (9)

When is a magpie not a magpie?

07 Saturday May 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Australian magpie, birding, birdwatching, British birds, European magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen, Magpie, New Zealand birds, New Zealand magpie, Pica pica

What I grew up in New Zealand thinking of as a magpie is nothing like the magpies I see here in Wales, which is not really surprising as they are totally different species and the New Zealand bird is actually Australian. Confused?

The bird that lives in Britain is the European magpie (Pica pica) (pictured above) and is a member of the corvid family, a relative of crows, rooks and jackdaws. The bird that lives in New Zealand is Gymnorhina tibicen, one of the nine species of Australian magpie (there were thought to be two Australian species in New Zealand but this is now in doubt).

The Australian birds are called magpies because of their physical resemblance to the European birds – it was quite common for British settlers to name birds, animals and plants after similar ones ‘at home’. Australian birds from Tasmania and Victoria were introduced into several areas of New Zealand in the 1860s and 1870s by local Acclimatisation Societies to control pasture pests like grass grubs, and their supposed importance to New Zealand agriculture was the reason they were afforded legal protection till 1951.

The magpies in New Zealand can be very aggressive birds, occasionally attacking both animals and humans that stray too close to their nests during the breeding season, though their nests are usually built high up in tall trees so their attacks are, in fact, unwarranted.

Magpies: sorrow or joy?

28 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Magpie, Pica pica

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret,
Never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird,
You must not miss.

So the modern version of the rhyme goes. The original version, first recorded in 1780, was a little more sinister – One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a funeral, Four for birth, Five for heaven, Six for hell, Seven for the devil, his own self – reflecting the common perception of magpies as birds of ill omen.

160428 magpie (1)

The magpie, with the easiest-to-remember scientific name of Pica pica, is a member of the corvidae family which also includes jays and crows, ravens and jackdaws. One look at that strong beak shows the similarity. But these birds also have other things in common: they are intelligent, able to solve problems and have excellent memory. They have a strong sense of curiosity, are sociable and are brilliant mimics. Many people think of magpies as black and white but, of course, they’re not. As soon as the sunshine strikes their back, wing and tail feathers, you can see what a gorgeous bluish sheen they feathers have.