Why crows love shiny things. Why magpies love glitter. Magpies are capable of sound imitation

20.11.2020

To the question why magpies love everything shiny? given by the author lilconok the best answer is Magpie, a distant relative of the Crow, a representative of the oldest family. But they never live in a pack, although there have been cases to unite and choose a leader for themselves. However, it was best for them to exist apart, mixing with other birds and animals. And there is an explanation for this: an innate passion for everything brilliant. .And since there are not so many such objects in the forest, this tribe often had to fly from place to place in search of such good things ... But the winter will pass and you won’t see magpies in the village - it will retire to the forests and copses to nest. And here smart birds show their skill. The magpie is a master of building a nest not simple, like most birds, but with a roof. You look, a kind of big ball of boughs sticks out on the tree and a hole - a move from the side. And be sure to go south to the heat, to the sun. So that neither rain nor wind pestered and it was warm. Everything, it turns out, our white-sided knows and foresees. In early spring, in late April - early May, 6-7 green-motley eggs already lie in such a nest. Full laying. And one more curious detail in the manners of the white-sided magpie. As a true member of the crow family, she is also an avid collector and suffers from kleptomania. Her "hobby" is everything that glitters and shines and can be carried away in her beak. Where there are a lot of forty, it is not recommended to leave any of the small shiny little things in the yard and on the windows. Once, in one of these magpie collections, we found a whole set - a white insulator, a fragment of green bottle glass, a hank of shiny copper wire and a piece of black anthracite. The meaning of this strange collective instinct is not yet entirely clear to science. It is known that birds love to decorate themselves, and there are suggestions that at the mating season, the male, attracting the female, shows colored trinkets in front of her, boasts of his wealth and gives gifts so that the adored girlfriend becomes more supportive. And then, when the time for spring games passes, the bird, out of habit, continues to drag beautiful things that it likes into the nest. .The kaleidoscope of colors also captivates his girlfriend. She, too, becomes infected with the spirit of decoration and collects all sorts of shiny trinkets in her corner. From time to time, birds sort out wealth, shift it and, as it were, admire the jewelry. And, apparently, they get "aesthetic pleasure."

Answer from 2 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: why do magpies like everything shiny?

Answer from Grub[guru]
magpie - she (feminine)

Answer from Isok[guru]
because. they are thieves...

Answer from User deleted[newbie]
I used to think that they were the dumbest, but they are very smart! so, maybe fashionistas))))) ha ha)) if not, then I don’t know ....

Answer from ***Dinara ***[guru]
I can answer why magpies and crows steal shiny things. The answer is simple: they like them. They love glitter. They love completely disinterestedly, because it is impossible to eat a copper or glass. In magpie nests, they often find whole “treasures” of pieces of foil, glass, balls. Magpies, like a miserly knight, love to sort out their treasures for hours. And not only magpies and crows love beauty.

Answer from $ K@terinka$™[guru]
BECAUSE THEY ARE MARGIES

“In the very center of the table, Magpies were sitting on a very beautiful vase of flowers. Chilling with horror, I began to examine the table. Knives and forks were lying around, butter was smeared on plates, and oil prints of bird’s paws scattered all over the tablecloth. Pepper and salt were quite spectacularly decorated with smeared fragments of a broken sauce-boat with spicy spices.
There was clearly something suspicious in the behavior of the criminals, I decided. Instead of immediately fleeing from here, they sat with bright, clear eyes among the broken flowers, swaying measuredly and exchanging good-natured remarks. One of them, with a flower in its beak, looked at me for a moment with an admiring look, then with unsteady steps walked along the table and, unable to keep its balance at the very edge, crashed to the floor. The other Magpie giggled merrily, tucked her head under her wing, and instantly fell asleep. I was struck by such strange behavior of birds. Then I noticed a broken bottle of beer on the floor and immediately understood everything. The Forty had their own feast here, and they ate too much. I caught them without difficulty, although the one on the table tried to hide under the oil-smeared napkin and pretend that it was not there.

Magpie ordinary (pica pisa) everyone knows. This is a beautiful sedentary bird from the Corvidae family, Magpie genus. Its length is 45 cm. Magpie has a characteristic plumage of contrasting white and black. She has a very long black tail with a greenish tint (a beautiful rudder) and black wings with a bluish tint. The head, neck, crop, back and upper chest are black. The belly, underside of the breast and stripes on the shoulders are white in color.

Magpie, photo from http://fondosanimales.com.es/

Magpies live in Europe, Asia, in North America and in North Africa. The bird often settles near a person. Often in forest parks, city parks and gardens. In large forests, magpies live less frequently. They are not seen in the highlands and in the Far North. But in the countries of Northern Europe forty a lot.

Magpies live in small flocks or alone. During the nesting period, they stay in pairs. Birds willingly eat insects, lizards and mice, drink bird eggs. Their menu includes a lot of pests. The omnivorous magpie pecks the seeds of sunflower, various herbs, watermelons, melons, etc.

Recently, four magpies began to fly to, in which there are always crumbs of bread and cereal for tits and. Magpies cannot climb into the feeder, so they are content with crumbs that have fallen to the ground from above. These birds noisily chase each other, trying to get closer to food. Magpies are not used to us yet, so they fly away in an instant, frightened of any movement. Therefore, they are difficult to photograph.

The flight of forty is considered heavy. They flap their wings frequently, usually flying in a straight line. When the magpie is on the ground, it paces or moves in jumps.

In the East of Russia, in East Asia and on the Iberian Peninsula lives a smaller one (length 34 cm) blue magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) with bluish primary wings. Some authors highlight Siberian blue magpie(living in Siberia) and Spanish blue magpie(from Spain). A significant part of ornithologists combines these beautiful birds into a single look.

In addition to these types, there are Chinese azure magpie(East China), red-billed azure magpie(Himalayas - Nepal) and green magpie(Himalayas, Indochina, Malaysia).

Magpies from the subfamily live in the forests of South Asia long-tailed magpies. found in India, China and the Himalayas wandering (English) magpies, which are related to forest magpies(Bram).

nest of magpies

Magpies form stable pairs. The nest is built by both birds. They construct a spherical structure from hard branches, leaves and clay. The nest is lined from the inside with a litter of blades of grass, thin roots and tufts of animal hair. On the side there is an entrance, near which a tray is molded from clay. The roof of the magpie is made of branches. The nest is often located on tall trees and shrubs, less often in low shrubs. In clutch there are 5 - 8 spotted bluish-green eggs.

The female magpie incubates the eggs for about 18-20 days. A. Bram notes that she continues to incubate eggs even when shot is stuck in her body. The male magpie guards the nest and feeds the female several times an hour!

Magpie chicks

The chicks stay in the nest for 3-4 weeks. Magpies are brave and caring parents. Adult birds feed their chicks with small insects, beetles, worms, snails, and later chicks of small birds (finches, tits, etc.). Therefore, in the spring, magpies are so often engaged in robbery, ruining bird nests.

A description of the behavior of forty was given by Gerald Durrell in the wonderful book "My Family and Other Animals."

I carefully wrapped my fingers around the fat, warm chick and pulled it out. Even I, with all my enthusiastic love for chicks, could not call him beautiful. It had a thick, short beak with yellow folds at the corners, a bald head, and half-lidded bleary eyes, giving it the appearance of a drunken or, rather, feeble-minded person. Wrinkled skin dangled in folds all over the body, as if hastily and somehow pinned to the meat with black stumps of feathers. A large sagging belly protruded between long, thin legs. His skin was so thin that his insides showed through. The chick was sitting on my palm, sticking out its belly like a ball filled with water, and helplessly squeaked. Searching inside the nest, I found three more chicks there, just as ugly as the one that was sitting in my palm. After a little thought and carefully examining each of them, I decided to take one pair for myself and leave the other to my mother. It seemed to me quite fair, I did not imagine what objections a mother might have. For myself, I chose the largest (he would grow up quickly) and the smallest (he had a touching look), carefully planted them in my bosom and began to go down, where the dogs were waiting for me.

Chicks grow up and learn to fly

Magpies, which people took as chicks and raised in their home, become tame. They fly away for a short time, after which they return each time. Forty teach different funny tricks and pronunciation of words.

Young birds are very mobile. According to Konrad Lorenz, they will never let a cat catch them. Magpies instantly react to the appearance of any threat.

Gerald Durrell describes the maturation of two of his birds, which were given the nickname Magpies in the house.

By the time the grown chicks were covered with feathers, Larry was so used to them that he completely forgot about their supposed criminal tendencies. thick, smooth, chatty magpies sat on the edge of their basket and expressed innocence with all their appearance. Everything was going well until they started learning to fly. In the early stages of training, Magpies simply jumped off the table on the veranda and, frantically flapping their wings, flew through the air for about fifteen feet, and then plopped down on the stone tiles. Their courage grew with the strength of their wings, and soon they were able to make their first real flight, flying around the house. Their view was just amazing. Long tails flashed in the sun, wings whistled through the air as the birds swooped down over the vines.

"Motley hooligan", or Magpies begin to rob

Magpies are famous robbers. They are not considered social birds. Konrad Lorenz compares them to a hardened criminal in a civilized human society. He notes that they do not have such restraining regulators, which are so attractive in the behavior of jackdaws.

The stable phrase "magpie-thief" is due to the fact that magpies really drag a variety of objects towards themselves. Some (threads, pieces of fabric) - in order to use in the construction of the nest. Others are for fun. Those people who had magpies in the house noted that magpies more often steal items that people use (glasses, wrist watch, cosmetics, buttons, etc.). At the same time, they are clearly amused, seeing what a commotion begins when searching for stolen items. Do not disdain magpies and a variety of shiny objects.

The Darrell family has repeatedly clashed with the Magpies, who staged a robbery.

Going up the hill, Larry, to his horror, saw one of the Magpies on the windowsill and shouted loudly at her. She sounded the alarm, the second bird immediately flew out of the room, and they both fluttered onto the magnolia, giggling loudly, like boys who were frightened off during a raid on an orchard.
The magpies combed the room like a Secret Service agent looking for stolen plans. All around on the floor, like autumn leaves, sheets of typed manuscript and blank paper were scattered. Almost all of them were decorated with a pretty pattern of pecked holes. Magpies could never resist paper. The typewriter sat on the table like a gutted horse in a bullring. The tape had been pulled out of it, the keys were smeared with bird droppings. The entire carpet, bed and table were white under drifts of paper scraps. The magpies apparently suspected Larry of being a drug smuggler and fought heroically with the can of soda, scattering its contents across the rows of books so that they now resembled a snow-covered mountain range. On the floor, on the top of the table, on the manuscript, on the bed, and especially on the pillow, an unusually picturesque pattern of paw prints was made in red and green ink, as if each bird had knocked over the ink of its favorite color and trampled on it. The bottle of blue ink, not as bright, was left untouched.

Magpies are capable of sound imitation

Magpies grown by man are distinguished by gullibility and importunity. This smart bird is very sociable. Bram describes a case where a large macaw could not learn to speak for several months, until its cage was placed next to a cage of a tame magpie, which did not fall silent for days. At first, the macaw began to mimic the chattering magpie, then he was able to pronounce individual words, learned new ones and called the children of his master by name.

Learned to play different sounds and Darrell's Magpies.

Chained to one place, Magpies could now devote a lot of time to study, which consisted in the solid assimilation of Greek and of English language and skillful reproduction of natural sounds. In a very short time, they learned to call all the members of our family by their names and played Spiro with exceptional cunning. After waiting for him to get into the car and drive a little away from the house, the Magpies rushed to the corner of the cage and shouted: "Spiro ... Spiro ... Spiro! ...", forcing him to apply the brakes and turn back to find out who was calling him. A lot of innocent joy brought them the words "Go away!" and “Come here!” which they shouted in turn in Greek and English, to the utter confusion of the dogs. Another trick, which amused them endlessly, was to deceive the poor, unfortunate chickens, who burrowed in the ground among the olive groves all day long. From time to time a maid would appear on the threshold of the kitchen and begin to make squeaky sounds interspersed with some strange loud hiccups. It was the signal for feeding, and as if by magic, all the hens appeared at the kitchen door. As soon as the Magpies mastered this call, they exhausted the poor chickens completely.

Drunken Magpies

It is impossible to complete the description of the behavior of magpies without remembering how drunk Magpies behave. Their outrageous behavior surprised even Darrell, who faced the unusual situation for the first time.

Magpies were sitting in the very center of the table on a very beautiful vase of flowers. Cold with horror, I began to inspect the table. Knives and forks were scattered about, butter was smeared on plates, and buttery prints of bird's feet ran all over the tablecloth. Pepper and salt quite spectacularly decorated the smeared fragments of a broken gravy boat with spicy seasoning. And to top it off, the incomparable Magpies knocked over a jug of water on the table.
There was clearly something suspicious in the behavior of the criminals, I decided. Instead of immediately fleeing from here, they sat with bright, clear eyes among the broken flowers, swaying measuredly and exchanging good-natured remarks. One of them, with a flower in its beak, looked at me for a moment with an admiring look, then with unsteady steps walked along the table and, unable to keep its balance at the very edge, crashed to the floor. The other Magpie giggled merrily, tucked her head under her wing, and instantly fell asleep. I was struck by such strange behavior of birds. Then I noticed a broken bottle of beer on the floor and immediately understood everything. The Forty had their own feast here, and they ate too much. I caught them without difficulty, although the one on the table tried to hide under an oil-smeared napkin and pretend it wasn't there.

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They are considered the villains of the animal world, thieves who are obsessed with stealing all sorts of nonsense. But it seems that forty all this time they tried to discredit completely undeservedly. Because despite the age bad reputation, new research suggests that these birds are not at all attracted to shiny objects. Unfamiliar objects have been found to actually repel magpies.

The idea of a magpie as a bird that steals all sorts of shiny objects for its nest is common to all European folklore. Rossini even made this idea the theme of his 1817 opera. The opera was called The Thieving Magpie, and in it a maid was executed for stealing silver jewels, which were actually stolen by the magpie.

But scientists at the University of Exeter have debunked that myth, proving that magpies aren't really the hardened thieves we've been led to believe all along. The researchers conducted a series of tests on wild magpies as well as a group of magpies housed in a rescue center. Under controlled conditions, they tracked and recorded the birds' reactions to both shiny and dull objects. Dr. Tony Shepard, from the university's Center for Animal Behavior Research, said:

“We found no evidence that magpies are attracted to shiny objects. Instead, all the items elicited a reaction in the birds that indicated neophobia, that is, fear of novelties.”

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Many people believe that magpies steal shiny objects to decorate their nests with them. However, this story originates from a 19th century French play. So what is a magpie really like? What about her is a myth, and what is reality?

Reputation and reality

The magpie's reputation is such that these birds are notorious for their theft, as they collect shiny objects around the world to decorate their nests with. They also feed on the eggs and chicks of songbirds, a terrible habit that has led to the extinction of many breeds. However, in reality, magpies are not thieves - they are just inquisitive. They are interested in various objects, but do not actually show an increased interest in shiny objects. It is true that they are predators that prey on songbirds, but there is no evidence that their activities led to the extinction of the species or even to the reduction of the population.

Roots of the legend

Magpies don't have the best reputation. In general, there are many different types these birds, but most attention is paid to the Eurasian magpies. In 1815, two French playwrights wrote the legendary play The Thieving Magpie, in which a servant was sentenced to death for stealing his master's silverware when the real thief was a magpie. Inspired by a French urban legend, Gioacchino Rossini staged an opera called The Magpie, which used the same plot. And then such fame was fixed for magpies. Two hundred years later, scientists made forty the object of experiments, which finally allowed to dispel the myth and clear the name of this bird. They offered a common Eurasian magpie two piles of nuts - one of them lay next to shiny objects, and the other - with the same objects painted in matte blue. The objects visibly distracted the bird from eating, but it was not observed that it preferred shiny objects. In only two of the 64 tests, Magpie took the silver ring, but quickly threw it away. "We can't say that magpies never steal shiny objects," study author Stephen Lee said.

Magpies and shiny objects

“However, we also have no evidence that magpies are more attracted to shiny objects than other birds.” The results of this study complement what ecologist Tim Birkhead found. He studied magpies in natural conditions for ten years and is the author of a book about these birds. Birkhead is absolutely certain that magpies don't steal. “There is no evidence that humans have ever found anything shiny in magpie nests,” he said. However, he reports that magpies are very inquisitive and pick up a wide variety of objects to study them. So in the days when people kept magpies as pets (as was the case with the French play), these birds had a huge number of opportunities to pick up various valuable items. And this may explain the rumors about their kleptomania.

Terror

But is there any truth to the fact that magpies terrorize other bird species? “There is no doubt that they eat the eggs and children of songbirds,” Birkhead said. The magpie is a persistent, noisy and conspicuous predator. So if you've been enjoying seeing a couple of blackbirds happily trying to start a family in your yard, then you might be very upset when a magpie comes in and kills their chicks on your lawn. However, there is no evidence that predation by magpies has caused songbird population declines. In a paper published in 1991, Birkhead described how he and his colleagues studied the population density and breeding success of forty and fifteen songbird species.

Research

Between 1966 and 1986, the number of forty in Britain increased steadily by about five percent a year. However, this did not have any negative impact on the living and breeding of songbirds.
In fact, the largest increase in the songbird population was observed at the same time as the increase in the population of magpies, which indicates that any decline in the population of songbirds was due to poor habitat conditions rather than magpies. A scientific work published later, in 1998, and covering an even longer period of time, contained identical conclusions. Even domestic cats are a greater threat to songbirds than magpies.