How can I get rid of Magpies?

[Cflames_12.5]

Originally Posted by Delthefunky

Just chop down the tree! problem solved.

This actually what I'm thinking. Plus free firewood.

[pylon]

Leave them alone.

Magpies are awesome birds, and the odds of one hurting you are zero to none.

We had a Magpie at my last car dealership that would imitate the alarms setting, cell phone rings and random salesman chatter. Everyone thought I was crazy, until one day, another sales guy heard him as well. He was very distinct looking because he had a screwed up wing, and couldn't fly very well, and I was super sad one day when I showed up, and he was lying dead next to a tree on the lawn of the dealership.

/coolstorybro, but they are fascinating, intelligent creatures, and you should just let them do their thing for a month or two, let them live their little Magpie lives in peace, and leave them be.

[Delthefunky]

Originally Posted by Cflames_12.5

This actually what I'm thinking. Plus free firewood.

2 birds with one stone! good idea

[FLAMESRULE]

They are extremely intelligent...but they are my mortal enemies. We have a big ass pine tree right outside our bedroom windows that is apparently like catnip for magpies.

Cue to 3 years ago...a newly formed pair of magpies, clearly in love, were starting to build a nest in the aforementioned tree. After being woken up at 530am for a few days in a row, Mr.&Mrs. Flamesrule were pissed. So I tore out the nest. Well the magpies got angrier and rebuilt the nest 3 times after I tore it out (its like High River, but with birds).

We go on holidays for a week and come back to a MONSTROUS nest. I tore it out and it filled 3 garbage bags full of twigs, garbage, and crap. Now they were really pissed. They began stalking me and Iggy (our dog) when we'd go for a walk and would cawwww at us for blocks. They absolutely recognized us.

Anyways, by now I'm super pissed because they continue to cawww at 530am for days on end. The pellet gun took care of them, their cousins, and other relatives over the last few years. But now they're too smart. Every time they see an arm slowly get raised...whoosh...they fly away.

Truly amazing pains in the ass those birds are.

[Fuzz]

This guy was birthed last year. There was a few of them, this one looked to have not been able to return to the nest. He looked pretty rough. That evening he was laying down. I thought he was dead, so I went to dispose of him, and he opened his eyes and just looked at me, rocked his head a little bit. Was a tough moment, and I had no idea what to do, so I left him and let nature do the rest. He was dead a few hours later. I've got no love for magpies, they surround my cat and squawk at her restlessly. My cat is tiny and could never come close to harming one, they just like to gang up on her. But this was tough to deal with.

[prarieboy]

The only thing I have against Magpies is the annual destruction of Robin's nests in my community. They are ruthless in their pursuit and each spring it's a battleground.
Sadly to me it seems the Robins are losing the war as there are fewer of them each spring.

I'd rather hear a Robin at dusk than a Magpie at Dawn.

[MotoRacer]

Man the #### up and destroy the nest

[MotoRacer]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Easy solution - rent out the house on AirBnB...

Lowball calling poster that cheap prick

[chubeyr1]

Magpies? Just buy a 22 and kill them all lol!

As a young man many many many year ago I tried to do this. Man if you want to stay sane dont buy a 22 and dont try to shoot them. Its incredible how smart they are. Now if we are talking shotguns? Those can be effective, but you will never hit one standing still. You will have to go full on Rambo shooting everywhere to get just one. You might kill a few friends and neighbors while you try. Both can be replaced! Yet sometimes the neighbors and friends are worse than the magpies!

Thankfully neighbors and friends are not as smart as magpies lol! When neighbors are in your gun sights you dont have to lead them near as much! I am kidding, seriously. Seriously I am kidding!

Best solution I found, serious solution! Put a bunch of bird seed out daily! Sparrows will come by often and daily. Magpies will keep their distance. They are not that keen on bird seed. Sparrows will chase them away in groups.

Expect your next message will be how do I get rid of sparrows? They can be annoying but entertaining too.

Best solution? Make friends with nature! Yet if those magpies start wearing bomb vests and plant ied's then the gloves are off! You call joint task force two and they will handle this. It will take sometime though, like terrorists, Magpies know well not to use the internet cause they would be monitored. They use burner phones etc.

I wonder what religion Magpies follow? People would probably say they are too dumb to follow a religion lol! LOL magpies can be worse than terrorist muslims, I mean seriously, yeah muslims bother me about once a month, but magpies bother me daily. I am not converting to their religion. One day we will have to set off a few nukes to solve the magpie issue.

I blame the government. We let to many magpies immigrate into the country! Next they are gonna run for government, and with this sham of an election coming up? If they run for change the Magpies could win!

We were so much better off when we lived in caves!

[calgarywinning]

Magpies are horrible creatures, noisy, semi-fake-aggresive, but their smartness is not denied.

I can't believe the number of people that are willing to accept them as nature. It's like a dominant species to man taking over and we should just live with them.

Anyways, old story, i.e. in the past, my dad kills them, then the family of magpies comes around and he kills them all with soft pellets. Capiche. End of Story. This is a weak creature in the chain and quite annoying.

There are no movies out there about Magpies. Just about weak humans. End of story.

[pylon]

Man some of you are heartless.

Just a few snippets about Magpies. If you are OK with killing Magpies, well, you pretty much are OK with slaughtering any animal. A Magpie is smarter than your dog or cat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_magpie

The Eurasian magpie is believed not only to be among the brightest of birds but among the most intelligent of all animals. Along with the jackdaw, the Eurasian magpie's nidopallium is approximately the same relative size as those in chimpanzees and humans, significantly larger than the gibbon's.[3]

Also, every time you kill a Magpie, they hold a sad little Magpie funeral, on which you were the grim reaper:

Magpies have been observed engaging in elaborate social rituals, possibly including the expression of grief.[12]

Please don't kill Magpie's guys. Yes they can be a bit of a pest, but their jerk behaviour isn't their fault. Just think of them like that one loveable jerk you know, but you kinda put up with him, because he just doesn't know any better... kinda like me.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Prairiefire

My neighbour uses those big rat traps they sell at Canadian tire. Just screw them to a tree and bait with chicken. They cannot resist chicken. If you would prefer to make up with them rather than kill them ,you could offer them breadcrumbs soaked in chicken gravy and vodka. To thank you for the free meal the magpies will offer you a couple hours of pure comedy.

My grandfather used to do that to catch geese, just get them tanked up then bag the drunken avian, pop it in the back of the van then a week or two feeding corn to reduce the gamey taste and hey presto, Christmas dinner!!

[Schraderbrau]

Pull your panties up climb the tree and knock that nest down. It's a bird living in your tree, not a grizzly bear.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by pylon

Man some of you are heartless.




Please don't kill Magpie's guys. Yes they can be a bit of a pest, but their jerk behaviour isn't their fault. Just think of them like that one loveable jerk you know, but you kinda put up with him, because he just doesn't know any better... kinda like me.

Sniff, sniff, give. Stop bogarting all the glue.

I recommend a pellet gun. That'll solve even the worst magpie infestation. And bacause they're such intelligent animals, I also recommend a satanic ritual when disposing of their corpses, just in case any of them are watching from a neighbour tree.

[FlamesAddiction]

I remember when I lived in Lethbridge, I left Tim Horton's with a paper take out bag and 3 magpies followed me all the way home squawking like crazy the hole way. It was pretty funny.

And no, cats don't really bother them.

I can see how they might be annoying to some people, but I found them kind of entertaining.

[FLAMESRULE]

Originally Posted by pylon

Also, every time you kill a Magpie, they hold a sad little Magpie funeral, on which you were the grim reaper:

Good point. The best bait is a dead magpie. Got my PB of 4 because they were holding a funeral. I slept very well that year.

[the-rasta-masta]

My dad once showed me how if you raised a rifle up towards a group of magpies, they would fly away instantly, but if you raised the butt end of a broom, they would recognize that it wasn't the rifle and just stare at you.

[darockwilder]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I remember when I lived in Lethbridge, I left Tim Horton's with a paper take out bag and 3 magpies followed me all the way home squawking like crazy the hole way. It was pretty funny.

And no, cats don't really bother them.

I can see how they might be annoying to some people, but I found them kind of entertaining.

This is very true, in fact they make fun of cats. A couple of years ago a magpie stood on one of our downspouts for 2 or 3 days straight when we were at work and squawked at the cat through the window non-stop. He left a line of white magpie crap on our deck underneath where he had been standing all day. I ended up borrowing a bb gun from a friend but the bird decided to bother someone else before I had to use it.

I had never felt compelled to harm a bird until this thing happened. They are smart, mean, and the sound they make is unpleasant at best.

[CroFlames]

What is the punishment by law if you fired a like .22 at it? You probably couldn't fire your sidearm at it under any circumstance I would assume given the tight restrictions on hand guns.

I'm actually curious if you had like a problem Coyote coming into your backyard within city limits and you blasted him away from your balcony.

[peter12]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7o9...=RDz7o9-Anzrso

Magpies are an essential part of being Albertan. If you don't like 'em, move to the coast and be swamped by garbage-reeking gulls!