How Do You Get Rid Of Magpies

Magpies belong to the family of small birds like ravens and crows. They are well known for being extremely intelligent and very adaptive. Magpies have long, narrowly triangular-shaped tails and are distinguishable by their black and white colouring. These black and white Magpies often reside primarily in gardens and domestic residences.

Facts about Magpies

Their main focus is often to look for food in the ground. This can often lead to the destruction of a garden and affect plant production due to their hostile behaviour. Magpies are noisy birds, constantly chirping at levels that many people can find annoying.

However, due to how intelligent magpies are, getting rid of them when gardening can be a tough task.

Magpies are omnivorous animals with their diets. What magpies eat can range from grains, insects, berries, nuts wild fruit, other eggs from larger birds. Sometimes they feed on table scraps. Magpies may not be found in a deserted place or dense forests. They synergize to build their nest which usually takes a while to finish.

• In the breeding season, a male magpie moves with a sweep to protect its young. This stops when the smaller birds leave the nest.
• Generally, magpies don’t fly around much at night due to their inactivity.
• Magpies can remember individual behaviour towards them. 
• Usually, the time when magpie swoops, one of the easiest way to chase them is to face them.

What Attracts Magpies

A garden that has an array of tall trees will be prone to having magpies around, this will attract them as they like playing around tall trees. They gather in two or more on tall threes to have a better view.

 

 

Magpies in the garden often have a strong affinity for gardens that has fruit plants in them, they enjoy feeding on them. This makes them swarm to such gardens frequently. They usually target fruits and vegetables such as strawberry plants, and corn.

One of their trait behaviour is being aggressive, which makes them dominate any domain they are. They usually don’t want other birds around. 

Best Way To Get Rid of Magpies

When magpies begin to be a pain in your neck and aggressively attacking your garden fruits, vegetables and destroying your output, then it is more effective to use methods to get rid of them without resulting in their death.

When you know where your problem lies then proffering a solution will be easy. Eliminating or minimising those things that attract magpies into your garden will help you get rid of them.

One must have it in mind that magpies are referred to as one of the most intelligent birds on earth so any approach measures to get rid of them must be chosen wisely or otherwise consult the expert.  Magpies are very adaptive; it means they get used to any environment they are in. So if you attempt to use one of these methods mentioned below and they persist then you should try another one till you finally get rid of them. 

Now let’s discuss these ways:

• Scary Bird – One of the ways you can get rid of magpies in your garden is by using a Scary bird. This device is designed in such a way that it is big and has the shape of a bird. When magpies see this, the will feel scared and insecure. Magpies are very intelligent and adaptive,  so if you want to make this method effective, then you need to change its position every two days. An owl decoy for magpies is also a non-lethal option that is often adopted by many home gardeners.

• Cover your garden produce and fruits with net –  Getting rid of magpies in your garden can also be done covering your fruits and vegetables with a Bird net. By this means a limit is set at which magpies can get access to your garden fruits and vegetables.  This method is capital intensive as though covering a large area of the garden will require large netting and this will cost a lot. However, protecting your garden from magpies is needful and important considering the loss to be experienced if one does not get rid of them.
• Use Guard’N Eyes Balloon –  This can also be used to get rid of magpies by protecting the gardens. The balloon is made from a strong, yellow vinyl having a large eye pattern around the circumference. It’s effective when inflates approximately to 22in. It has a hanging thread and streamer tail.

• Get rid of water bodies around you – Magpies have a strong affinity for water, which is a trait seen in other birds. Therefore, make sure you get rid of birdbaths and lakes around you while you are fighting magpies. Also, avoid overwatering your plants.
• Using Compact Discs to scare them –  Another way to get rid of magpies is by using a compact disc. What this does is that, it produces a light reflection as the discs rotate when arranged and layered in 5 feet apart, placed the discs at a point where sunlight can set on it. The reflection that comes from the discs will scared and chase the magpies away. This method is simple and capital friendly as it does not cost at all.

• Bird Tape – Another way to get rid of magpies out of your garden is to purchase a bird-tape. This device has a shiny metal surface on one side and bright colour on the other. When the tape twisted and moves, it scares the magpies.
• Using Large Eye to scare them –  Coming up with large eyes design as this at a point around the garden can be another effective way to deter magpies from your garden. When they see this, it makes them feel insecure, uneasy and scared.
• Bird Feeders – Remove any bird feeders you have in your garden. While they might invite other birds to enjoy your home environment, there’s also a chance that you’ll get some magpies as well.

With any luck, they might just be afraid of the eye option. Not that they don’t like being looked at but large eyes may cause an inherent response that they have seen large wildlife predators.

Illegal Magpie Control

Using traps can be productive in areas with high concentrations of magpies. If you plan on going down this route then you should make sure that you have the appropriate legal papers to back your action as there are laws that prohibit this in respective domains.

In some cases, licenses and protections may apply.

In the long run, to ensure safety and success in getting rid of magpies, gardeners owners should contact animal control professionals.