Red in tooth and claw
Friday, 27 May 2005 11:07![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
strange_complexI have just watched one of my blackbird chicks die after being pecked by a magpie. I banged hard on the window as soon as I saw it happening, but it was too late for that chick. It thrashed and twitched for a while, and then was still. I don't know where the parents are, and I can't tell if the other chicks are OK or not.
I feel really shaken up about it, although I did know that it was unlikely all four would survive. I saw some pigeons close by the nest earlier, too. I didn't think they were such ones for eating other birds' chicks as magpies, but it looks like they would, given half the chance.
I know this stuff happens all the time, but I had got really involved with these blackbirds. At this rate, I shall be sitting up all night with an air-gun, defending them whenever the parents aren't around.
Not happy.
I feel really shaken up about it, although I did know that it was unlikely all four would survive. I saw some pigeons close by the nest earlier, too. I didn't think they were such ones for eating other birds' chicks as magpies, but it looks like they would, given half the chance.
I know this stuff happens all the time, but I had got really involved with these blackbirds. At this rate, I shall be sitting up all night with an air-gun, defending them whenever the parents aren't around.
Not happy.
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Date: Friday, 27 May 2005 16:42 (UTC)The good news is that I haven't seen any sign of the magpie since about lunch time, so maybe the combined efforts of the blackbird parents and my window-banging has done the job... for the moment at least.
The nest is actually in a largish light-well outside my office window, not a garden, and I think the area is too small for me to attempt distraction. It would only encourage magpies into the light-well in the first place. I just have to rely on there being enough other food-sources around here to act as better / easier pickings for the magpies. We have lawns and trees on the University campus, plus a park nearby, and lots of fast-food outlets just down the road, so it's a reasonable prospect.