Magpie diaries, Sunday 25th February 2018
What a fantastic if chilly day, a brisk walk around Pembrey reserve this morning in glorious sunshine.
Nine Lapwings flying east were new for 2018, not much else going on apart from the Orienteering event where 100's of brightly and bizarrely clothed individuals were determinedly running in all directions through both the country park and the reserve, I used to do orienteering myself when I was younger and fitter.....I know hard to believe but true.
I spotted a few random twigs in a Poplar tree at the bottom of a neighbours garden yesterday and a Carrion Crow lurking nearby, last year they nested in a Cherry tree in another garden. Today I found the actual birds responsible for the construction, a pair of Magpies, they seem optimistic, I'm going to try and document the building of the nest and share the videos on the blog.
In the meantime a few facts about the Magpie, Pica pica, a member of the Corvid family some of the cleverest birds on earth.
An opportunistic omnivore they don't have many "friends" whether human or animal. They will feed on almost anything including nestlings and small birds, these are sometimes caught in flight. The birds at Pembrey have a taste for the caterpillars of The Fox Moth a hairy beast and the birds can be seen bashing them on the ground presumably to remove some of the hairs.
A bonded pair will remain together through the year, although like some humans, the males do have an eye for the ladies and can be promiscuous.
Nine Lapwings flying east were new for 2018, not much else going on apart from the Orienteering event where 100's of brightly and bizarrely clothed individuals were determinedly running in all directions through both the country park and the reserve, I used to do orienteering myself when I was younger and fitter.....I know hard to believe but true.
I spotted a few random twigs in a Poplar tree at the bottom of a neighbours garden yesterday and a Carrion Crow lurking nearby, last year they nested in a Cherry tree in another garden. Today I found the actual birds responsible for the construction, a pair of Magpies, they seem optimistic, I'm going to try and document the building of the nest and share the videos on the blog.
In the meantime a few facts about the Magpie, Pica pica, a member of the Corvid family some of the cleverest birds on earth.
An opportunistic omnivore they don't have many "friends" whether human or animal. They will feed on almost anything including nestlings and small birds, these are sometimes caught in flight. The birds at Pembrey have a taste for the caterpillars of The Fox Moth a hairy beast and the birds can be seen bashing them on the ground presumably to remove some of the hairs.
A bonded pair will remain together through the year, although like some humans, the males do have an eye for the ladies and can be promiscuous.
The nest is loosely constructed and usually dome shaped the cup is lined with mud lined with grass, hair, leaves and other soft material; a clutch of eggs is typically comprised of between 5-7 eggs, more rarely 3-10!
Here's the first short video of construction, hopefully more to follow.
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