But it is so easy to stop.

Maggies are smart, apart from this destructive behaviour, but this makes them easy to train.

They were swooping here when we bought the place. just stepping outside the sliding glass door to the pool area invited an attack. It took only 5 days of leaving some dry cat food out for them, & the swooping was a thing of the past. Dry food, mince & a bird bath has made the maggies our friends. They will even start knocking on that glass door, & warbling, if we are running late with breakfast.

This time of year, with young to feed they are working hard, & will eat out of your hand with a little encouragement. They have even made friends with the dog. The female sits on the edge of her bowl, sharing the chunky mince bits.

Yep a little effort will make them friends rather than a danger. Throw some dry cat food around where you have a problem maggy, & you'll be amazed how quickly they change.

Our domestic starlings were friendly during renovations, busily ripping out chunks of insulation to make room for large, warm nests of grass. By unscrewing and forcing up the roofing it was possible to adjust armfuls of hay which piled up across the lawns. Then installed and screwed strips of wood in the gap. As burglar security a piece of wire netting was cunningly fitted over the defences and we rejoice to this day hear them striving and chattering to remove the steel barrier.

When you feed native animals you're giving them the wildlife equivalent of JUNK FOOD, cat food is junk food for magpies. Instead of eating a wide range of natural foods, foods that are not part of their natural diet can make them very sick. They may also lose their ability to forage for natural foods and be endangered by predictor animals, particularly introduced species like dog and cats. Hassy do you also have a cat which eats that dry cat food? I suggest it be given the cat food (in doors) and not the birds. .

Think twice before you feed native fauna, such as birds, a moment's pleasure for you may lead to the animal you feed becoming addicted to junk food. The good news is that there are responsible ways to attract wildlife to your backyard without endangering yourself or the natural order. Planting native trees to provide natural foods for visiting birds is an excellent idea.
If you'd like to observe birds up close, install a bird bath or water feature. A water feature may also attract frogs. That chemically toxic, energy wasting, concrete tub or above ground steel and plastic monstrosity laughingly called a swimming pool should go! Instead plant those native trees which are suitable to the environment in its place. Include some shrubs for smaller birds to hide in. You can sit in the shade and cool of the trees reading 'Bob Brown's Green Nomads: Across Australia's Wild Heritage' and before you know it, Bob's your uncle!

p/s To avoid scaring the wildlife away, be sure to keep any cats and that dog inside the house 24/7!

p/p/s Hassy, as long as the maggies are only attacking your head, I can't see them doing much damage!

Your maggies may develop flabby arteries, raised cholesterol and deep vein thrombosis from binge calories. Regular exercise should be routine, gradually increasing from slow swooping to high dives.
The average prey (birds, mice, rabbits, etc.) of a wild cat is made up of only 3 – 5% of calories from carbohydrates. Now consider that dry kibble diets generally range from 35% – 50% carbohydrate calories and you will see a serious disconnect between what the cat is designed to eat and what Man insists on feeding to them. Dry foods flood the cat’s system with 5-10 times (500% – 1,000%) more calories from carbohydrates than what would be found in a wild cat’s prey.

Ask your butcher for minced magpie which can be offered to your birds - or preferably fine-ground starling.

//Hassy do you also have a cat which eats that dry cat food? I suggest it be given the cat food (in doors) and not the birds.//

//Ask your butcher for minced magpie which can be offered to your birds - or preferably fine-ground starling.//

Use the dry cat food to fatten the cat, then feed it to the magpies. Sorted.

Body-building for maggies could be the answer to feral cats . Nowhere to run nowhere to hide. A cassowary on cat food would love cats.

"..be endangered by predictor animals"

A psychic pussy?

Paul the Octopus would know.

However, there is always a critic,

"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacks Octopus Paul
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian leader, says Paul the Octopus, the sea creature that correctly predicted the outcome of World Cup games, is a symbol of all that is wrong with the western world"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/7912418/Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad-attacks-Octopus-Paul.html

Mondays need trivia.

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare or On line opinion. This can be proved. Parrots naturally want to fit in with their flock, so when their companion is a human, they mimic speech to be like their owner. If you’re lucky enough to own an African grey parrot, then you’re likely eager to teach it to speak and edit monkey text to ape political animals.

Hasbeen,

You've brought those that don't know Magpies out to demonstrate their ignorance and as dry cat food is usually grain based with a smatter of meat then it's good food for Magpies.

Is Mise
You're thinking of the Australorp Magpie chook at 4kg , deadly in a surprise neck-swoop.

Magpies have a strong bill with a sharp cutting edge, which can be used for cutting flesh, digging up invertebrates, or picking fruit. Their main diet in summer is grassland invertebrates, such as beetles, flies, caterpillars, spiders, worms and leatherjackets.

In winter, they eat more plant material, such as wild fruits, berries and grains, with household scraps and food scavenged from bird tables or chicken runs, petfoods etc. They will eat carrion at all times and catch small mammals and birds. Occasionally, magpies prey on larger animals such as young rabbits. During the breeding season they will take eggs and young of other birds.
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grains : food no. 9 with Whiskas. It ferments and makes them sing a lot.

You don't need dry cat food to feed magpies. All you need is a compost heap. Put your food scraps on it and not only will the magpies become friendly, but you'll also attract lizards!

Magpie at .3kg has even learnt to safely eat the poisonous cane toad by flipping it over and consuming the underparts. Australorps seize cane toads by the tongue and swing them at cats if they have the room. Wedgetail eagles weigh as much as Australorps and throw cat- food cans and cane toads at cats and have room to swing.

//You've brought those that don't know Magpies out to demonstrate their ignorance and as dry cat food is usually grain based with a smatter of meat then it's good food for Magpies.//

Are cats bad for magpies? Not alive cats - obviously they're bad for all sorts of birds. Is dead cat flesh bad for birds that eat carrion?

Egypt has dry cat mummies , wrapped with preservatives and natural oils for magpies dining delight , taken with grains of salt.

I'll take the birds word of what it likes & what is good for it, long before I would pay any attention to the pontificating of some ivory tower naturalists, or some greenie PARROTING, [like it], the theories of said theoretical naturalist.

Our resident maggies have raised 3 chicks each year for the last 3 years. Not bad for maggies poisoned with my offerings, when bush maggies are lucky to raise 3 chicks in a lifetime. I might say all the birds spend all day foraging for their natural foods, only getting a little at dog/cat feeding time.

My maggies like dry cat food, as do the butcher birds, & surprisingly the top notch pigeons. The maggies & butcher birds also like the chunky dogs mince, & particularly look for this to take back to the nest for the young, & short pieces of raw chicken necks. They don't like tinned fish cat food.

They were rather partial to a bit of finely chopped roast beef yesterday, & enjoyed the off cuts before cooking too.

The lorikeets surprisingly prefer bread grated small to special mixes bought for them, as do blue faced honeyeaters & noisy minors.

The crows & wood ducks will eat any of the above, but are discouraged as they foul the bird bath so quickly.

This post was about how to avoid conflict with magpies, try discussing your ideas for that

//This post was about how to avoid conflict with magpies, try discussing your ideas for that//

Learn the noble art of falconry?

Or just put your sunnies on backwards. They generally won't swoop you if they think you're looking at them.

"Learn the noble art of falconry?"

Not much point in NSW as it's banned.

Collapse of the entire population is imminent. Bread and seed get a fatal mould when left in the rain. Aspergillosis fungal lung disease is magpie-abuse spread by super-market pet-foods due to mouldy parrot seed and corn. A warm humid environment can speed up the deterioration of nutrients in a parrot’s food and increase the possibility of spores becoming rampant.

Aspergillosis Aflatoxin B1 is a class 1 human carcinogen.. Aflatoxin B., the most toxic, causes adverse effects on chickens include liver damage, impaired productivity and reproductive efficiency, decreased egg production in hens, inferior egg-shell quality, inferior carcass quality and, most important from a human perspective, increased susceptibility to disease and inferior carcasses.

Birds with clinical aspergillosis will have a marked leucocytosis. Heterophilia occurs in the early stages of disease, and monocytosis reflects more chronic infection . Lesions within the pulmonary parenchyma and air sacs often reflect focal granulomatous inflammation. Fungi often have an affinity towards blood vessels. Aspergillus sp. may spread from the primary site of infection into blood vessels resulting in vasculitis with widespread coagulation necrosis of adjacent tissues. Ischaemic necrosis associated with mycotic vasculitis most commonly occurs in the pulmonary parenchyma, but is also evident within the liver of some birds.. Cytologic examination of oculonasal discharges, or infraorbital lavage fluid may be useful in the diagnosis of mycotic sinusitis.

* Mycotoxicosis (Tremogenic Toxins) in Cats

The term “mycotoxicosis” is used to denote poisoning by food products contaminated by fungi (i.e. cat food with corn, mouldy bread, ). As well as being toxic to humans, fungi release various toxins, also called mycotoxins, that are toxic to animals. Toxic cats will damage young magpies. Bread with yeast can swell in a bird's crop causing indigestion , death and a sore throat . Magpie chicks brought up on cat junk-food that has been contaminated by parrakeets with Aspergillosis will have ADHD and learning problems and cancer . Swooping magpies then give cats vasculitis , ischaemic necrosis, mycotic sinusitus , cold turkey and dandruff. Swooping birds are defeated by the burqa and wearing a large beak with hedge-clippers works if you're quick.

In the navy we had a saying.

"Bullsh1t baffles brains", & your post is a perfect example Nick.

Do you really think any of my offerings are around long enough to develop any mould.

Do you think it rains often enough to catch any of it. Ivory tower rubbish produced in a much wetter part of the world, for no better reason than to justify a faulty ideology is pretty useless at the best of times. Even more so when applied in an entirely different environment or circumstance.

With in an hour of my couple of slices of bread being grated onto the very thin grass, every last skerrick is gone. Perhaps if you got off Google, & went out side some time you would have seen what a flock of hungry birds do to a few bread crumbs.

Have you ever thought of moving into the real world?

Hasbeen
How dare you? With school standards slipping due to metabolic disease in kids who can't chew gum and blast the cyber aliens, cancer of every known human organ ravaging the suicide consulting rooms and homeless stomach worms out of control you continue to throw away bread despite all the warnings . Generations of deprived , weak shell magpie orphans have chromosome syndrome and asthma , knee-deep in writhing terminal lorrikeets and drongos , ignored by galahs and parisitic cats. Shame.

"Learn the noble art of falconry?"

Not much point in NSW as it's banned.

Issy don't worry, the Shooters and Hooters Party are working on a plan to bring it back, along with bear baiting and cock fighting.
The much progressive Shooters and Hooters think its high time for Australia to move forward into the 14th century.

//The maggies are swooping//

And so are the butcher birds. At least, I think they're butcher birds. I'm not exactly sure, but they're a type of bird that have never swooped me before - it's only been magpies & plovers before. A flock have taken up residence down near one my local creeks where I like to walk, and one the buggers tried to take my head off yesterday. Will have to remember my sunnies in future.

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Avoid cancer caused by rotting cat food , place pieces of cat in hat and enjoy the birdlife.

Hassy, are you training a squadron of swoopers and dive boomers, to attack Toni?

Toni, we have the perfect solution for your dilemma. Encase that creek in concrete, and turn it into a toxic drain for the new plutonium plant to be built in your backyard. Then erect signs warning you not to venture within 500 meters of the drain, sorry "natural waterway", although the authorities have told you it is perfectly safe to do so. Those pesky birds will soon drop from the sky, and you will have loads more time to sit in front of the telly watching re-runs of 'I Love Lucy', much safer than venturing out into the poisoned environment that is the outdoors you will now be living in.
p/s We also are going to re-name your locality 'Beautiful Meadows', not "Stinksville' as those Communists detractors are claiming!

//Toni, we have the perfect solution for your dilemma. Encase that creek in concrete//

And where will I go kayaking then, city-slicker? Some of us out in the sticks actually prefer to enjoy our natural environment instead sitting in our ecologically-unfriendly city apartments gazing at images of it on our ecologically-unfriendly flatscreens, whilst patting ourselves on the backs for being more in tune with nature than the great unwashed in Boganland because we belong to the right party.

Toni Lavis,

Good stuff. A Mirage and running with the sea is nice too. Thirty mins to a nice island and picnic. Long way back, what's not to like?

Throw some cat food, [or little bits of meat], at those butcher birds.
Ours take it in flight if thrown up close to them, perched in the gavellers or on the roof guttering. That will make them friends.

The Maggies are not going to raise 3 chicks this year. One of them was blown out of the nest yesterday morning. Not yet quite ready to fly back to a tree, it has tail feathers, but not enough to be able to steer properly.

My son, the big tough navy engineer, is feeding it mince dipped in water by tweezers, as recommended by a bird saving site, & is quite proud that in 24 hours it is already opening it's mouth & begging when he walks rear it.

I have told him he will make a lovely mother for someone, one of these days, but he doesn't appear impressed with that idea.

//Throw some cat food, [or little bits of meat], at those butcher birds.//

Haven't got a cat, do you reckon they'd go for dog food?

"dog food?"

Yes. They would likely prefer it.

But don't end up feeding these, unless you are using a trap,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2016-09-08/indian-myna-birds-pest-species/7819394

"Bundaberg Regional Council offers a bounty of $2 per head for Indian mynas, delivered alive and unharmed. It humanely kills them and some are sent to the Snakes Downunder Reptile Park in Childers, where crocodiles consider them a tasty treat."
Crocs like dogs, cats , magpies and garlic bread and can smile as they nibble your hand.

The kids should be doing well...$5 apiece plus traps on free loan.

"Indian Myna Bird Bounty Program
..Bundaberg Regional Council has announced that a $5 bounty would be paid for every Indian Myna which was trapped and bought into Council alive and in good condition.

Council has a number of myna traps available for loan, at no cost, to the public as part of this latest approach, to find out how you can access these traps and get involved in the program contact a Council Land Protection Officer on 1300 883 699."
http://www.bundaberg.qld.gov.au/environment/natural-resources/land-protection/programmes

Years ago kids did it for free with the help of cute little Daisy or Diana.

And it should be free.
Indian coal miner Adani has been seeking a $900-million loan to build the railway line but Qld won't give handouts.

NNN, I have set a number of traps myself, but unfortunately without much success. All I've managed to snare thus far. is a pair of Mormons, a parcel delivery guy and a pizza boy! Alas, not one Indian Miner. I did take that odd quartet out the back and disposed of them humanly, with a length of 4 by 2 that is.
However there have been some fringe benefits, I'm on chapter 3 of the 'Book Of Mormon', and the 'Pepperoni P' wasn't half bad, but I don't know what to so with the pair of size 6 'stilettos' off E-bay, too bloody small!

Please advise, where I am going wrong?

//I have set a number of traps myself, but unfortunately without much success. All I've managed to snare thus far. is a pair of Mormons, a parcel delivery guy and a pizza boy!//

You're clearly setting your traps in the wrong place. Try the CBD, where a canny poacher can pot upwards of two a dozen slow-waddling bankers on good day, and if you're very lucky, a Member of the Legislative Council... maybe even the elusive 'Dinosaurus Riddikulus', the rare Fred Nile Bird. It's believed by some to be last of its kind in existence.

//I did take that odd quartet out the back and disposed of them humanly, with a length of 4 by 2 that is.//

A bit harsh, Paul. You shouldn't beat the messenger. That being said, I don't why you held back on the Mor(m)ons.

Fully agree , they can be fed into crocodiles although there's a health hazard getting the croc into tins. Pepperoni makes them snappy.

No Tony, dog food is far too big for Butcher birds, or Magpies, unless you want to cut it up for them, or choke them with it.

Whale meat used for dog food - The Australian
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/whale...dog-food/story-e6frg6t6-1111115171833
Dec 21, 2007 - WHALE meat has been sold as dog food in Japan and there is a push now to encourage children to consume it to help reduce stockpiles.
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Kids can handle it , what's the problem?

NNN, nothing worse than a little tyke with a bad case of stockpiles. I recall myself as a wee lad at the tender years of 47, being confined to my cot with a server bout of stockpiles. Mummy would rub my backside raw with a big slab of whale blubber, every night, that continued until I grew out of it at the age of 59. I still have fond memories of my days with stockpiles, the carbolic acid, the hot poultices, sulphur in-gestation, castor oil 3 times a day, the fun of being in traction. Ah! the joys of childhood, fond memories one and all. No child should miss the experience!

Blubbering kids. You deserved the raw stockpiles if you bit the hand that fed you let alone swooping.