Crows, Jays, and Magpies. (1 Viewer)

ChrisKten · Oct 15, 2009

I'm sure most of you are aware that Crows seem to hate Magpies with a passion. As I understand it, this is due to Magpies taking Crows eggs/chicks, and because they are also competing for food in the same territory.

I have all three species feeding in my garden daily, and have spent hours watching them interact. They all mainly come for the peanuts in shells; though all will take bread, especially when feeding young. They mostly land on the fence, have a good look around, then land in the garden to either carry off or eat nuts.

Now I can't remember a time over the last few years that I've seen both Crows and Magpies on the fence at the same time; the Crows simply won't tolerate the Magpies. But I often see Crows and Jays on the fence at the same time. It's not really relevant, but I also see Jays and Magpies on the fence at the same time (but they do sometimes squabble).

During the breeding season, Crows even actively seek out, and try to attack, Magpies (at least they do every year in my garden, I think I posted in another thread about the Crows apparently setting a trap for the Magpies).

So to the point of this thread; why are Jays not treated the same as Magpies by the Crows? Jays eat similar food to Crows and Jays also eat chicks/eggs. In fact I've seen Jays killing and eating more juvenile Sparrows in my garden than the Magpies have.

Any thoughts on this?

Himalaya · Oct 15, 2009

The mapgie is a boldy coloured, loud bird and not at all shy and retiring like the Jay.

I have seen Crows persecute Magpies. I felt sorry for them when it happened. Both are intelligent birds and know each other too deep.

In fact Crows hate Magpies more than Bird of prey it seems? I have never seen Crows behave this way to Jackdaws, Rooks.

Out of curiosity how do Ravens react to Carrion Crows? I have seen Ravens chase off carrion Crows when near their nest site.

Then you hear ofthem all feeding together

ChrisKten · Oct 17, 2009

Himalaya said:
The mapgie is a boldy coloured, loud bird and not at all shy and retiring like the Jay.

I have seen Crows persecute Magpies. I felt sorry for them when it happened. Both are intelligent birds and know each other too deep.

In fact Crows hate Magpies more than Bird of prey it seems? I have never seen Crows behave this way to Jackdaws, Rooks.

Out of curiosity how do Ravens react to Carrion Crows? I have seen Ravens chase off carrion Crows when near their nest site.

Then you hear ofthem all feeding together

Thanks for replying.

I often hear people say that Jays are shy birds, but that's not my experience at all. Although they do appear calmer on the surface. In my garden Jays are just as aggressive as Magpies, and just as loud when they want to be. But Jays do seem to think more before they actually attack prey.

Magpies will peck at any bird that's close enough, and if it's ill or slow, try to kill it. The Magpies often chase round after Pigeons looking for the weakest, grabbing at every tail within reach.

Jays will sit and watch, appearing to not be interested, then launch what's nearly always a successful attack. Although I've never seen Jays try to kill a large bird, it's always been small immature birds (juvenile Sparrows are a favourite).

So to me, Jays and Magpies would seem to pose a similar threat to Crows' eggs or chicks. I would have thought that Crows would be aware of this and treat both species the same, but they don't, and that's what puzzles me.

karpman · Oct 17, 2009

Hey mate

I think in the natural habitat the war for food would be more common between crows and magpies rather than jay/crow/magpie.
I for one have never seen jay squabbling with anything for roadkill and aint seen any numbers feeding in fields etc.

Probably naive and very wrong but i could imagine crows would naturally bump shoulders with magpies more than Jays

Kindest of regards
Karpman

P.s Had a jackdaw chase a magpie into a nearby tree today for no apparent reason..

scuba0095 · Oct 20, 2009

magpies are the most predatory corvids for their size they even go after adult jays and pigeons sometimes

oldcrow689 · Mar 31, 2012

ChrisKten said:
I'm sure most of you are aware that Crows seem to hate Magpies with a passion. As I understand it, this is due to Magpies taking Crows eggs/chicks, and because they are also competing for food in the same territory.

I have all three species feeding in my garden daily, and have spent hours watching them interact. They all mainly come for the peanuts in shells; though all will take bread, especially when feeding young. They mostly land on the fence, have a good look around, then land in the garden to either carry off or eat nuts.

Now I can't remember a time over the last few years that I've seen both Crows and Magpies on the fence at the same time; the Crows simply won't tolerate the Magpies. But I often see Crows and Jays on the fence at the same time. It's not really relevant, but I also see Jays and Magpies on the fence at the same time (but they do sometimes squabble).

During the breeding season, Crows even actively seek out, and try to attack, Magpies (at least they do every year in my garden, I think I posted in another thread about the Crows apparently setting a trap for the Magpies).

So to the point of this thread; why are Jays not treated the same as Magpies by the Crows? Jays eat similar food to Crows and Jays also eat chicks/eggs. In fact I've seen Jays killing and eating more juvenile Sparrows in my garden than the Magpies have.

Any thoughts on this?

I'm a big crow fan and I feed them every day. But unfortunately I know very little about magpies. In my yard I have a couple of Jays that seem unafraid of the crows, as I often see them feeding about 3 ft. apart. I also have a bunch of pesky squirrels. At first the crows tried to chase them off, but they kept coming back. Now the squirrels and crows seem to tolerate each other, and I often see them feeding about 2 ft. from one another.

David Pollock · Apr 17, 2022

Yesterday early morning I saw a magpie persistently go for a Jay until the Jay flew off. Too early for nesting, no shortage of food - just dislike?

Crows, Jays, and Magpies. (1 Viewer)

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ChrisKten

It's true, I quite like Pigeons

Himalaya

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ChrisKten

It's true, I quite like Pigeons

karpman

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scuba0095

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oldcrow689

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David Pollock

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