[HN Gopher] Magpies - Smart, witty birds
___________________________________________________________________
Magpies - Smart, witty birds
Author : mooreds
Score : 73 points
Date : 2022-12-03 03:54 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.ouraynews.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.ouraynews.com)
| AbleWilliam wrote:
| A number of years ago my housemate found an injured magpie in the
| backyard and brought it in. It seemed to have been involved in a
| fight with something, and while its wing was intact, it had lost
| enough feathers so as to be unable to fly.
|
| It lived with us for about three weeks as it recuperated, slowly
| spending more time in the yard and eventually flying away. It was
| really fun to have around, it would perch on top of my laptop and
| watch me as I worked, occasionally poking at my head, or flopping
| down to look at the screen.
|
| It was a very smart and attentive bird. The one time we left it
| alone in the kitchen, it climbed the shelves and pecked a hole in
| its birdseed bag. 10/10 would recommend.
| ljf wrote:
| When I was about 10, we had a semi tame magpie for a while,
| everyone who met it fell in love with it - it was so personalable
| and interested in humans.
|
| During a storm it had fallen out of a nest in our garden and I
| spotted it when I saw my cat approaching it. Tiny and hungry, it
| was happy to be fed and took bits of cat food from a pair of
| tweezers.
|
| The next day another fell out - there was no way for us to reach
| the nest to return either of them, so we brought it in too.
|
| It resolutely refused to eat and thought we were terrifying, even
| though it's relative would eat in front of it. It died quickly
| overnight, though we were not sure how long it had been out the
| nest.
|
| ---
|
| The first magpie, we named Marilyn as I had just learnt the name
| had normally been a male name before Marilyn Monroe, so I thought
| it a good unisex name.
|
| It grew really attached to us - we'd feed it as often as it
| wanted, and it would perch on some bamboo rods that my father
| fixed up in the kitchen and chatter to use while we were talking.
| It would fly to my shoulder and back when asked to, and enjoyed
| being stroked and scratched.
|
| Each night it would fly to a box we had so we could put it to bed
| and keep it safe from our cats (who generally seemed pretty
| uninterested as it grew bigger).
|
| For a period we would take it into the garden each day, and it
| would fly off and return as much as it wanted, coming back into
| the kitchen through our open door. Then one day it suddenly
| learnt how to eat and drink by itself - the next day it flew off
| and we never knowingly saw it again.
|
| I later read that in the middle ages they were common pets - but
| they would clip their wings for the first few months so they lose
| the urge to fly away. I am sad it left, but glad we didn't, I
| hope it lived a good magpie life somewhere.
|
| I still say 'Marilyn' to magpies I meet, just in case it is them
| :)
| gsinclair wrote:
| A beautiful story, thank you. They are marvellous birds.
| nicbou wrote:
| That's the sort of comments that keep me coming back to this
| website. Now I want a pet magpie! Thanks for sharing.
| seanw444 wrote:
| There was one that must've set up a nest somewhere near my
| parking spot at my apartment towards the end of summer. Every
| time I came home, it would be running around looking for things
| in the flowerbed nearby, and then come over to me and follow my
| feet/shoes, and then do soft nips. It was interesting though,
| because it's like it knew not to peck my ankles (that were
| covered by my socks) as hard as it did my shoes. Playful in a
| way.
|
| It would stand on my shoe, and I'd lift it up. It'd bite onto the
| side of my shoe, and I'd play tug of war with it.
|
| At one point I was diagnosing a car battery issue, and when I had
| the hood popped, it got territorial over _my_ car. I kept trying
| to lead it away by enticing it with something distracting a
| little ways away from the car, and then running back to check my
| battery. But it would return.
|
| A couple times, I pulled out of my spot to head to work in the
| morning, and it'd ride on top of my car for a few seconds before
| I started driving too fast.
|
| They're such interesting birds. I kinda miss that one.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| (I volunteer at a raptor conservation Trust).
|
| Many birds will play with objects in their aviaries to varying
| degrees. Vultures (Hooded and Egyptian) will pull on shoe
| laces. Owls and Kites will fly off with a sponge if you take
| your eyes off it while cleaning their aviary. Caracaras are
| about as safe to have around as a raccoon. Many birds will look
| inside a bucket or try to pull it over.
|
| These birds vary a lot in their intelligence, as indicated by
| their ability to solve problems to access food.
| rolph wrote:
| what might you think of trading posts?
|
| e.g use a visual cue, such as a dollar bill, coupled with
| food reward. attempt to cargo cult the birds, into
| replicating conditions associated with reward. to the end,
| birds will find the cue [$] and bring it to the trade post
| /vending machine.
|
| the bird doesnt need to "know" any material value, other
| than; a particular item, at a particular place, allows food
| discovery
| KineticLensman wrote:
| Not many dollar bills in aviaries, unfortunately. We
| already have to watch out for the free-flying birds diving
| into the crowd during a display to steal sandwiches,
| sausage rolls, etc. Probably best not to train them to go
| for wallets
| jfk13 wrote:
| There was the guy who trained his local magpies to collect
| discarded bottle caps...
| https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/magpies-
| traine...
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| Related: Training Australia's Dangerous Magpies [1]
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXYf2DTOsvI
| lxe wrote:
| I've come to really enjoy observing birds in my yard. Their
| behavior creates this interesting little drama that's fun to just
| pay attention to. Especially when war breaks out. Crows VS Owls
| is quite a show.
| COGlory wrote:
| I used to love magpies, until I got a dog.
|
| I now hate magpies.
| chasil wrote:
| La Gazza Ladra.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_gazza_ladra
| papandada wrote:
| I worked at a tourist destination in Canada one summer during
| school. A foreigner came up to me and asked, "what are these
| _beautiful_ birds we keep seeing? "
|
| Well ma'am, those are magpies, and we all complain about them. I
| still laugh about that, but I do think it's sweet to be able to
| look at even magpies through a fresh perspective and see they are
| beautiful, and wonderful, in their own way.
| xeonmc wrote:
| Here's the thing. You said a "jackdaw is a crow." ...
| Pr0ject217 wrote:
| Magpies: my least favorite animal.
|
| They're obnoxious and aggressive.
| eatonphil wrote:
| I've seen them in Korea (they are large, and everywhere) but
| sadly not in the (Eastern) US.
|
| https://www.eagletimes.com/lifestyles/of-a-feather-why-no-ma...
| sliken wrote:
| Had a community of magpies in my back yard. They'd often
| collectively yell at me when I was in the back yard. One day my
| dog found something, obviously pleased with herself. I found an
| unhurt baby bird and nest that had been blown down. I put the dog
| in, got a cardboard box and duct tape, and put the bird+nest back
| in the tree securely.
|
| Shortly later, saw the mom feeding the baby.
|
| They never yelled at us again, and would often peek in our
| windows at us, or hang out in front of our glass door looking in.
| pleb_nz wrote:
| Not to be confused with Australian magpies which although also
| smart are not related to European and american magpies.
| EdwardDiego wrote:
| And are giant arseholes when they're nesting. In the country
| town I grew up in, a key footpath when walking to school would
| end up with 3 - 4 magpie nests in trees alongside it.
|
| So us kids would compete to see who could last the longest
| walking past them, as soon as you ran, or put your backpack
| over your head to protect yourself, you lost.
|
| No-one ever made it past the third nest without breaking.
| [deleted]
| LordHeini wrote:
| Loosely related:
|
| The German name of Magpie is Elster.
|
| They are known for liking and 'acquiring' shiny things like
| coins.
|
| The German online portal for tax declaration is called Elster as
| well.
|
| Apparently it stands for ELektronische STeuerERklarung :)
| 867-5309 wrote:
| shame the 'shiny things' was debunked as a myth
|
| https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_406690_en.html
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2022-12-05 23:01 UTC)