Why do people hate magpies?

Magpies also eat small nestlings.

However, I don't hate them any more than I hate sparrowhawks, which is not at all.

I like them too.
We have 4 that are "resident".

They always look big though. Does make me question what they have been up to!

Baggs

Magpies also eat small nestlings.

However, I don't hate them any more than I hate sparrowhawks, which is not at all.

👍👍

There was an injured blue tit on our patio recently. A magpie was trying to attack it. We intervened. Not sure if we should have but we didn't want to see the little creature pecked to death. I don't hate magpies though.

I hate them because I had convinced myself that as there were 6 on the lawn whilst I was making our morning cup of tea
I was going to win £1mill. It was the first of this month so Premium bond day. I won nothing. They obviously haven’t been taught the rhyme.

We have lots of magpies also. There was a dreadful kerfuffle a few days ago when they were. raiding a nest. Awful to hear.

I heard a lot of distressed blackbird cries one morning, looked out of the window and saw a magpie attacking said blackbird. I ran downstairs and into the garden only to find the magpie had pecked the blackbird to death. I'm afraid I've disliked and mistrusted them ever since.

My DH says they rob little birds nests in the hedgerows and eat the babies.

Buzzards take small birds that can’t fly very well.

But he says sparrowhawks only catch other small birds in flight, they don’t raid nests.

I like all birds except pesky wood pigeons. They really annoy me!

Hate is rather a strong word when it's related to predatory, instinctive behaviour, which, though we may find it unpleasant, is just another example of "nature, red in tooth and claw". We have a Blackbird which tries to nest successfully in our front hedge year after year, but more often than not, the eggs or even in some cases the nestlings are taken by magpies. Very sad, but just natural behaviour, I'm afraid.

A pair of magpies will patrol a hedgerow this time of year eating all the eggs they can find, then listen for the nestlings calling for food.
They will then take the nestlings to feed their own chicks, personally I would rather see 20 or 30 small birds than one magpie. When you marvel at all the birds of prey and other predators just remember if they can they will catch and eat anything smaller or slower than they are.

I like them as they're (usually) wonderful to watch. They bring bits of bread from elsewhere to dip in the birdbath. They really do collect anything shiny or sparkly too.

As they've nested high in a tree next door I know the smaller birds have safe nests - for now. They 'switch off' their hunting (not foraging) instinct at close range to their nests - but only until their own chicks have fledged.

Calendargirl

My DH says they rob little birds nests in the hedgerows and eat the babies.

Buzzards take small birds that can’t fly very well.

But he says sparrowhawks only catch other small birds in flight, they don’t raid nests.

Buzzards are really slow, young rabbits and birds on the ground are easy prey. Sparrowhawks take anything smaller than a pigeon sometimes in flight often perching, a neighbour had a lot of white fantail pigeons, the Sparrowhawk had them all.

Nature is cruel. Most living things are predatory only to live. Whereas humankind are predatory for many reasons. Therefore I never hate creatures that eat other creators to live even when they have been domesticated.

MaggsMcG

Nature is cruel. Most living things are predatory only to live. Whereas humankind are predatory for many reasons. Therefore I never hate creatures that eat other creators to live even when they have been domesticated.

I’m inclined to agree with you there, although this year it seems as though the little garden birds are struggling on all fronts as the insect population is late to emerge, so I’m worried that the larger numbers of larger predators might tip the balance too far.

Last year this happened with the water bird population in Leicester… our local river was awash with gulls who were taking cootlings, cygnets and ducklings until very few were left. Then avian flu struck and most of the remaining swans and cygnets died on the river. The gulls have disappeared this year (? because of avian flu ?) and the few water birds left are now breeding. I do hope they can recover their numbers… the river is so underpopulated.

Still love to see the intelligent magpies strutting around though 😊

They are really predatory and violent.
I love all birds, but I do find that the magpies stretch my patience (we have loads of them, and they do create mayhem)

Freida Hughes has a beautiful book out about her rescue magpie George.
I heard her interviewed on The World Service this week.
(She is the daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes)

When our children were small we had blue tits nesting in the garden. We had watched the parents going in and out with food and had taken a real interest in them. We were lucky to spot the fledglings leaving the nest and we all stood watching them through the patio windows. All of a sudden a magpie swooped down and attacked and killed most of them, it happened so quickly, there was nothing we could do.
I suppose it’s just nature & all about survival of the strongest & fittest in the wild but it was a horrible thing to witness.

I don't hate them, don't hate any birds in fact. Magpies can be very noisy though - and someone told me they are associated with bad luck too, so I guess if you believe in that kind of thing, you might not like them.

I find them two noisy, but don't hate them. However, I am not bothered by them, as our cats send them packing.

Our local farmer has a Larson trap near to my house. When I said I thought it was cruel he said just see how many songbirds you will have in your garden now. And he was right. I do struggle with the pigeons that frequent my garden though. I tried to clean some of the poo on my driveway yesterday and then worried that I’d put bleach down and it might hurt the hedgehog. And they sit in the bird bath every day and poo in it so that has to be cleaned every day. I have to change my shoes every time I go in the garden because I can’t avoid walking in it and my dustbins are covered. I’m having a new bedroom window soon and have had to have two opening sides so that I can clean the sill every day. It’s really time consuming and I’m sure it’s a health risk.

I don’t hate or dislike them, tho don’t see them all that often.
We do get jackdaws sitting on our chimneypot but they don’t annoy us either.
On the other hand, damn pigeons!

I don't hate any birds. Magpies are quite beautiful and their behaviour is just how nature programmes them.
Many birds and animals are predators.
We are surrounded by birds here and they are all fascinating to watch.

Birds don’t have any moral sense, so we shouldn’t hate them for eating smaller birds. They are only trying to survive.

Grandma70s

Birds don’t have any moral sense, so we shouldn’t hate them for eating smaller birds. They are only trying to survive.

My next door neighbours said similar when DH broke up the nest in our tree.
They changed their minds when the magpies started killing pigeons on their patio