My cousin in Los Banos, CA told me this story. Behind her and the next door
house are several large
old eucalptus trees that the magpies would roost in. They made lots of
noise, hasseled the cats and dogs ,
tore up the gardens and basically made pests of themselves. New neighbors
moved in and decided they were
going to solve the magpie problem, they tried bird scare tape, sticky glop
on the branches, firecrackers, with
no luck. Then the neighbor took out a BB gun and shot and killed a magpie.
The flock flew off, he hung the
dead bird in the trees as a warning. Well, the birds came back, not just the
original flock,
but joined by what seemed to be all the flocks in the area. They made a
horrid noise all day and far into the night,
swooping around the area, landing , moving about all night long. The
newcomers finally left after about a week,
the old flock stayed. A wake? Political caucus? New President/Leader?
Anyway, the neighbor never shot another bird!
Sandi
Seattle
scadane at msn.com