The best methods for getting rid of magpies include covering fruit and veggies with nets, covering food sources, using bird feeders, using reflecting objects, getting rid of bird baths, placing a scarecrow, and using bird tape and decoys.
Deterrents for magpies
Half-full plastic bottles or CDs hung up in trees to scare the predators away. Magpies don't like the way light reflects from the surface. GuardnEyes scarecrow balloon, available from Dazer UK. It may be possible to deter them by playing a tape of a crow or rook distress call.
Some believe flashing lights scare them off, while others swear a zany wig, sticking eyes to the back of your head or opening an umbrella is the way to go. You could even attach a flag to your bike that is higher than your head.
– Wearing a hat and sunglasses or just holding something like a school bag above your head. – Some magpies only attack bike riders and will swoop on them even if they are outside the defence zone. If you get off your bike and walk, the magpie should leave you alone.
They are scavengers and collect objects, with a weakness for shiny things. They are also seen as predators, eating other birds' eggs and their young, as well as plants. Magpies are sometimes blamed with the overall decline in songbird numbers. But the flipside, often overlooked, is that they are good pest-destroyers.
Natural predators of magpies include various species of monitor lizard and the barking owl. Birds are often killed on roads or electrocuted by powerlines, or poisoned after killing and eating house sparrows or mice, rats or rabbits targeted with baiting.
Remember, magpies are simply trying to protect their territory. Stay calm, protect your face and walk away quickly. A magpie may become aggressive towards people because it has been harassed in the past. Please do not throw things at magpies or chase them.
If you've ever thought magpies all look the same, in a way you're probably right. Magpies occupy the same territory for their entire life. Once they find a suitable patch, they will stay there forever — up to 20 years, Darryl Jones from Griffith University told ABC's Off Track program.
A key reason why friendships with magpies are possible is that we now know that magpies are able to recognise and remember individual human faces for many years.
There's one thing magpies are really scared of – flashing lights. You can keep magpies at bay by placing any reflective object in your yard.
As mentioned, magpie swooping season occurs during a magpie's mating period, which tends to fall between August and October each year. While it can seem like it drags on forever when you're dreading your commute and trying your best to avoid feathered projectiles, a magpie will usually only swoop for around six weeks.
Magpies don't seem to notice the eyes, and may attack from the side instead, and don't seem overly bothered by the appearance of cable ties. The only real benefit either strategy offers is some sort of head protection for when a magpie does swoop.
Second-generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) are poisoning and even killing native wildlife like owls, eagles, magpies, and quolls.
There you have it, falconry is truly the best option available to scare away pest birds and keep them away for long periods of time. Shop bought deterrents simply do not have enough effectiveness such as the response to smaller birds' fear as seen with falconry.
However, as the well-known rhyme shows, it is generally only seeing a lone magpie that is supposed to bring bad luck. We're not entirely sure why this is but we do know that magpies often mate for life so seeing a single magpie may mean it has lost its mate and therefore the chance of it bringing bad luck is higher.
Magpies love:
Open woodlands with tall trees but no understory. Big, old trees which give them somewhere safe to build their nests and sleep at night. Hunting and eating insects. Mimicking other birds' calls, car alarms, dogs barking, phones ringing and even human voices.
Outside of mating season, magpies are still territorial but generally keep to themselves. In fact, their instinct to be territorial is what makes them so special! They'll stay in the same area, in the same suburb – even on the same street! – for their entire lives.
The EPA and the NSW branch of the RSPCA will continue to keep their collective eyes peeled for the perpetrator, promising jail time. The maximum penalty for deliberately killing a magpie is two years behind bars.
Magpies and the law
Magpies are protected throughout NSW, and it is against the law to kill the birds, collect their eggs, or harm their young. If you feel a magpie is a serious menace, it should be reported to your local council or the nearest NPWS office.
Unfortunately, another expert noted that this can backfire, given that if you mess up and do “something as minor as looking in the direction of the nest” the magpie will also remember that and pursue you with a vengeance due to their “low tolerance threshold”.
If a magpie tries to swoop you, bend your elbow and bring your forearm close to your head to protect your face. Once your eyes are covered, look down and walk away calmly. Cyclists should also dismount their bikes and proceed on foot through a magpie's attack zone.
The young use noise as a survival strategy—they are loud by design. They yell at their parents to feed them. They yell at each other. They yell to scare off predators.
Meet the Magpie Menace
Tourists visiting Australia often arrive terrified of the country's deadly wildlife, from snakes to saltwater crocs to the mythical, man-eating drop bears. Meanwhile, Australians are more afraid of the magpies.