The chickadee has a very quiet sort of zzeee zzeee zzeee sound during most of the year.
At this time of year, actually I heard them start about 2 or 3 weeks ago, the male has a small little two toned whistle, again very quiet, calling for a mate. The first part of the whistle is a higher tone than the second part of the whistle.
This is a very quiet little whistle, nothing at all like you would whistle to call your dog.
At the link below, you can hear the zeee zeee zeee sound of the chickadee as well as the whistle mating call. I think it would be highly unlikely that this is what is keeping you from sleeping.
Have you used the Merlin app also from Cornell? It integrates the sound ID function now but also includes pictures, territorial maps, behavioral info etc. for birds all across North America. The sound ID feature is a bit more user friendly in Merlin but doesn't let you select a time range to analyze in the way BirdNET does. If you like BirdNET you'll probably also enjoy Merlin.
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We have a blue jay family in our neighborhood (westgate). I see them about once a week or so. We currently have sole chickadees building a nest in our birdhouse and the flickers are often hammering on the chimney cap for our fireplace - which scares the poop outta me when im sitting next to the fireplace!
I am pretty familiar with birds in the Calgary and SW area. I have a quarter section at Priddis where my son now lives. It is what you would consider "virgin" land in that it has not been broken, except for a small horse pasture. It is mixed aspen and evergreen trees, 100+ year old spruce, with a small creek running through it, that empties into Fish Creek.
While I lived there (many years since my husband and I built on the property in the 1980s), I did a project for the Devonian Foundation based out of the Edmonton University. I had to identify what native flowers and plants were still found on my property as well as identify birds on my property. I did this every year for 20+ years.
Since the land has never been broken, birds and native flowers and plants are in great abundance. Actually wildlife as well. That is what I miss the most about moving into Calgary. Not that I don't enjoy Killarney as it is well established with a lot of green spaces and it is very quiet...but the amount of flora and fauna simply does not compare. I so enjoyed feeding the birds and deer...got to know which fawns went with each doe and the like.
Actually, for identifying birds in the Priddis area, I found the little Golden Book on Birds to be about as good as any.
At my place in Killarney, I have the black capped chickadee, the red shafted flicker, the downy woodpecker, occasionally nut hatches, occasionally a blue jay, sparrows, robins which I love, and a pair of red finches, which are presently nesting in the canopy on my back deck. I will leave them as they are such nice singers. My grandson built me some bird boxes and I have had chickadees nest in them. There are either merlins or kestrels as well but they have not been close enough for me to identify which one. Other than that, I have magpies, which I consider a predator, not a nice bird at all. I have absolutely no use whatsoever for magpies. The damage they do to song birds is just awful.
My robins in my water feature. I have planted Solomon's Seal around the water feature and it sort of drapes over, making my water feature look like a small brook. The birds, robins in particular, love it. They have a pecking order for who goes in first...they don't share!!! Then they line up on my fence and ruffle their feathers and dry off.
my dog destroyed a magpie in the backyard about a month back. wing was toast but he wasn't dead and i opened a gate and it hopped out the back yard. 5 mins later his friends were back for revenge. There were like 20 of them in my backyard.
Thinking back i'm pretty sure they were there for a free cannibal lunch.
Also the only bird i have ever hit with my car was a magpie on 16th by crowchild. I wasn't even speeding. It was an expensive bunny lunch.
The Magpie is incredibly intelligent, when ganging up on larger prey they use gestors instead of vocal signs to signal attack, like their cousins the Ravens/Crows they will drop hard nuts in front of cars to open them and they're the only known bird that recognizes itself in the mirror. Like Ravens, it can also use a mirror to find food.
After you shoot them all make sure to go around picking up all the rotting squirrel cascaras.
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Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay
Magpies.....I just effin hate those things.
I feel like there should be a "purge day" in the city where it's legal to sit in your backyard with a shotgun and go to town.
This would be, and it's not even close, the most anticipated day of my year. Eclipsing even Christmas.
Magpie purge day would be an event starting 48 hours in advance of "the big day" with tailgate parties, strategy sharing sessions, firearm prep and some sort of dance.
It would end at midnight and there would be a mass burning of the corpses as a warning to other magpies.
We have a blue jay family in our neighborhood (westgate). I see them about once a week or so. We currently have sole chickadees building a nest in our birdhouse and the flickers are often hammering on the chimney cap for our fireplace - which scares the poop outta me when im sitting next to the fireplace!
The flickers do that to attract mates, as far as I know. I find that pretty cool!
I see Blue Jays quite regularly and overall we get a lot of birds as I’ve got a few feeders.
I feel like there should be a "purge day" in the city where it's legal to sit in your backyard with a shotgun and go to town.
This would be, and it's not even close, the most anticipated day of my year. Eclipsing even Christmas.
Magpie purge day would be an event starting 48 hours in advance of "the big day" with tailgate parties, strategy sharing sessions, firearm prep and some sort of dance.
It would end at midnight and there would be a mass burning of the corpses as a warning to other magpies.
I would pick any of those birds but the magpie. Bohemian Waxwings are nice but so are Northern Flickers and chickadees, I don't think I've ever seen a bluejay here.
The thing about magpies is there's too many in my opinion and you don't know how disruptive they can be if you live around a lot of them. At what point do you consider them a pest? If you contact the city they'll send you a diagram on how to build a trap, and then what are you supposed to do with them?
I have them right outside my window and knocked their nest down three times last year before they moved on but they're still around and back again this year. They're always here and it's not uncommon to see 60 in a tree at one time, that's how many we have in our area.
I did see a hawk hunt them one day and a pic of an owl with one on Reddit but I don't think they have many predators after them.
I deal with them using various means if they're to close but it's basically just scaring them off and they come right back.
I would pick any of those birds but the magpie. Bohemian Waxwings are nice but so are Northern Flickers and chickadees, I don't think I've ever seen a bluejay here.
The thing about magpies is there's too many in my opinion and you don't know how disruptive they can be if you live around a lot of them. At what point do you consider them a pest? If you contact the city they'll send you a diagram on how to build a trap, and then what are you supposed to do with them?
I have them right outside my window and knocked their nest down three times last year before they moved on but they're still around and back again this year. They're always here and it's not uncommon to see 60 in a tree at one time, that's how many we have in our area.
I did see a hawk hunt them one day and a pic of an owl with one on Reddit but I don't think they have many predators after them.
I deal with them using various means if they're to close but it's basically just scaring them off and they come right back.
Have you tried getting one of those fake owls and putting it up somewhere? Not sure if they would work on magpies because they are pretty smart, but maybe.
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The Magpie is incredibly intelligent, when ganging up on larger prey they use gestors instead of vocal signs to signal attack, like their cousins the Ravens/Crows they will drop hard nuts in front of cars to open them and they're the only known bird that recognizes itself in the mirror. Like Ravens, it can also use a mirror to find food.
Yes magpies are very smart but they really don't have any natural predators that will keep their population under control, particularly in the city.
If a magpie would come to the feeder, take some of the offerings, and then leave in peace, I could tolerate them. But that is not what they do, especially if you feed suet, which I like to do in the winter during cold spells. Small song birds need that extra energy in the cold spells.
When I lived at Priddis, my husband made me quite a few suet logs. He would take a large piece of spruce about 15 to 18 inches long, (leave on the bark), and drill holes in the side. I would fill the holes with the suet that I made and then hang the logs in the trees around my property. I had so many birds there that I liked to have a variety of feeding stations.
This is what the magpies would do with the suet logs. First they would send in a scout. That magpie would hop around in the trees and when it felt things were safe, it made a certain chortle sound, and in would swoop a flock of magpies and they cleaned out the suet logs in 10 minutes, leaving nothing for the small birds.
Even a blue jay will not do that. Small song birds are afraid of the blue jay as well so when it would come, the small birds would go to the other feeding stations I had set up. However, the blue jay will take a few peanuts, eat a bit of suet, or stuff its cheeks with sunflower seeds and then leave.
Once I found this type of suet feeder, I never had as big a problem with magpies. (Well I will confess that I shot a fair number as well.) The magpie is not too fond of sunflower seeds in the shell...their beak is not the best for opening them. I found this suet feeder at Canadian Tire...not sure if they still carry them, but they definitely work for magpies. I found that a magpie will not hang upside down to eat suet. It will jump up from the ground and try to dislodge some suet with its beak, but it won't hang upside down.
Magpies will decimate the population of small song birds if they are not kept under control. They eat their eggs and young. Be careful of your pets too as they will try to peck at their eyes.
Last edited by redforever; 04-04-2022 at 10:27 PM.
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How can a bird that people have such strong feelings about not be the official bird of the city? Nobody seems to have such strong feelings about any of the others.
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Yeah, I've tried a fake owl and it worked or seemed to for a while but one day I saw a magpie sitting right on top of it and looking down on it trying to figure it out. I just don't like all the squawking and don't want them to close or in my space.
How can a bird that people have such strong feelings about not be the official bird of the city? Nobody seems to have such strong feelings about any of the others.
I feel like there should be a "purge day" in the city where it's legal to sit in your backyard with a shotgun and go to town.
This would be, and it's not even close, the most anticipated day of my year. Eclipsing even Christmas.
Magpie purge day would be an event starting 48 hours in advance of "the big day" with tailgate parties, strategy sharing sessions, firearm prep and some sort of dance.
It would end at midnight and there would be a mass burning of the corpses as a warning to other magpies.
Sounds like something Barry White would have opposed.
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I think if we were to make magpies our official bird it would be the best thing. They would see it as a gesture of peace and admiration, something their egos crave incessantly. A new era of cooperation would ensue, one that benefits all magpiekind. They would work for peanuts cleaning up our streets and sidewalks.
