Sneak-Thieves and Sentinels

At this time of year I will turn my attention .. and my muzzle .. to the magpie and the carrion crow. Mother Nature has a predilection for favouring the strong over the weak. She allows evolution to put one species at advantage over another. These two corvid cousins are a case in point. They are the countrysides earliest risers, out at first light to clean up the carrion left by last nights roadkill or Reynards leftovers. They have another early trait too. Both build their nest, mate and hatch their chicks a couple of weeks before their prey species .. songbirds or gamebirds.

So as the magpie and crow sit aloft their watchpoint with their squeaking fledglings begging for feed, they are plotting and conniving. They note the blackcap cock and hen changing guard over the tiny eggs. They see the cock blackbird carrying grubs to its chicks. They spot the robin stealing into a crevice to tend its mossy bed. They see all and miss little. Both birds are evolved to perfection to snatch, grasp, tear and probe. Their talons match those of the raptors and their vice-like beaks can crack tiny bones or eggshells with ease.

Each of the two has its own 'modus operandi'. The magpie is a sneak thief and coward. It will watch and wait until the parent birds are away from the nest then plunder and murder. A pair of magpies will work the blackthorn hedgerow like a team of pickpockets in a shopping mall. One will decoy, drawing the parent birds away to fuss and harangue. The other will dip in and steal. With deft and cunning, but little confrontation, they will feed their own. The carrion crows are much more brash. They fear nothing but man, so will simply bully in and take whatever they can see. The common denominator for both corvids is the all-seeing eye and the intelligence to hatch a plan.

So .. if Mother Nature gave them the advantage over these weaker species, she also made them one too. She put a rifle in my hands. Targeting each requires a different level of cunning. The carrion crows remote nest in a tall tree is almost impossible to approach undetected. Crows need to be baited away from their nest and ambushed. Never an easy task but an interesting and achievable challenge. If you get one of the pair, you'll rarely get the other!

Magpies are somewhat easier to cull at nesting time. In fact, it's probably the only time of the year that they drop their guard. Just look at the magpies nest. A huge dome of interwoven twigs which involve hundreds of flights from ground to tree by the pair. The pair become so pre-occupied with construction (and probably so weary) that they pay scant attention to their surroundings. The experienced shooter who can get placed within thirty yards of the building site will get ample opportunity to cull at least one magpie. Often, the second too .. for the only time in its life that the magpie drops its cowardly mantle is when its mate or its young are injured or dead.

 Target these two predators now and you will save dozens of eggs and chicks around your shooting beat .. not only songbirds but your landowners game-birds too.

 

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