Magpie's waking me up (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I've joined to hopefully get some much needed advice. I have been putting out various food in my garden for birds and squirrels for the past 2 months. About 2 weeks ago the pair of magpie's that live in the trees at the bottom of the garden have started to very vocally let me know when they are hungry. They come very close including the roof outside my bedroom window when they do it.

its anywhere between 5am and 7am. I give them various bird seeds and bread. This morning was the worst. They sounded off for ages until i went out and threw bread on the floor they then stopped. They sound like car alarms and are probably waking up the neighbors too. I must do something, please any advice would be greatly appreciated. I love feeding the wildlife and seeing the birds in the garden but not at the expense of sleep. Thanks

Hi there and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

What if you put out the food late at night or are there night mammals that will take advantage of it?

Two things I'd consider.

Stop putting food out on the ground for a couple of weeks. After a few days they'll soon realise they're not going to be fed. If you keep providing them food they'll still come.

Secondly, for now I'd just provide food in hanging feeders. Magpies won't be able to use them so you're more likely to attract smaller birds like Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch. Sunflower hearts seem to be the best to attract a range of birds though we also provide peanuts.

Squirrels though can become a pest. It's nice seeing one occasionally at first but if they find a reliable food source they usually end up destroying feeders to get at the food and birds may disappear. They're known to rob nest of eggs and chicks.

Magpies are noisy by nature, but calling for food might not be what they're doing. I'd guess another reason for their behaviour... a Cat or Sparrowhawk or other predator hiding nearby. As soon as you open the door the predator is scared away and the Magpies are safe to come down to eat the food you've just thrown out. If I'm right, stopping food for the Magpies won't change much, especially if they're nesting in your trees.

If it's a Cat, find where it's hiding and make it impossible or uncomfortable for it to hide there. If it's a Sparrowhawk, the regular Magpie alarms will make it harder for it to surprise it's prey, so it will go elsewhere for a while... the Cat doesn't need to catch anything, so it won't go anywhere.