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    Magpie Feeding v2.0

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    Darious Kater
    Feeding backyard magpies is not recommended as it can lead to nutritional imbalances, increased disease risk, and disrupted natural behavior. Magpies' natural diet consists of insects and small animals, whereas human foods like bread, meat, and seed are unhealthy and provided in excess. Feeding can expose magpies to parasites and increase disease transmission where many birds gather. A constant supplemental food source allows magpies to outcompete smaller birds and disrupt natural population densities. Instead of feeding, people can provide safe habitats for magpies by protecting them from pets and using non-toxic gardening practices.

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    Magpie Feeding v2.0

    Uploaded by

    Darious Kater
    113 views2 pages
    Feeding backyard magpies is not recommended as it can lead to nutritional imbalances, increased disease risk, and disrupted natural behavior. Magpies' natural diet consists of insects and small animals, whereas human foods like bread, meat, and seed are unhealthy and provided in excess. Feeding can expose magpies to parasites and increase disease transmission where many birds gather. A constant supplemental food source allows magpies to outcompete smaller birds and disrupt natural population densities. Instead of feeding, people can provide safe habitats for magpies by protecting them from pets and using non-toxic gardening practices.

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    Bird feeding

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    Feeding backyard magpies is not recommended as it can lead to nutritional imbalances, increased disease risk, and disrupted natural behavior. Magpies' natural diet consists of insects and small animals, whereas human foods like bread, meat, and seed are unhealthy and provided in excess. Feeding can expose magpies to parasites and increase disease transmission where many birds gather. A constant supplemental food source allows magpies to outcompete smaller birds and disrupt natural population densities. Instead of feeding, people can provide safe habitats for magpies by protecting them from pets and using non-toxic gardening practices.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    113 views2 pages

    Magpie Feeding v2.0

    Uploaded by

    Darious Kater
    Feeding backyard magpies is not recommended as it can lead to nutritional imbalances, increased disease risk, and disrupted natural behavior. Magpies' natural diet consists of insects and small animals, whereas human foods like bread, meat, and seed are unhealthy and provided in excess. Feeding can expose magpies to parasites and increase disease transmission where many birds gather. A constant supplemental food source allows magpies to outcompete smaller birds and disrupt natural population densities. Instead of feeding, people can provide safe habitats for magpies by protecting them from pets and using non-toxic gardening practices.

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    Should I offer backyard magpies food?

    Offering backyard magpies food is not recommended.

    Magpies are frequent visitors to the urban backyard and are often encouraged with food.
    Magpies are also quite clever in asking for food with various cheeky methods, which
    increases our willingness to provide food. However, feeding human food can lead to
    nutritional imbalances, increase the risk of disease and lead to a disruption in natural
    animal behaviour.

    Nutritional imbalances
    Human food is not natural for magpies and can make them sick. A natural diet for these
    birds consists of insects and small animals such as lizards and mice. Food sources
    commonly offered to magpies include bread, mincemeat, bird seed and pet food, all of which
    can lead to nutritional imbalances and life threatening complications.

    Feeding magpies bread can cause stomach problems, raw meat and sausage lacks the
    calcium requirements of these birds and may lead to weak bones and beaks, and bird seed
    is only a minor part of the magpie diet. Magpies are also considerably smaller than humans
    so the amount of food supplied is often in excess of the required daily intake for these birds.
    Spread of disease
    Feeding magpies (or any wildlife) raw meat can expose them to parasitic disease such as
    the potentially fatal parasite Toxoplasma gondii. In addition, regular feeding stations where
    numerous birds congregate to feed can increase the risk of disease transmission.

    Disrupting animal behaviour


    A constant supply of ‘easy’ human food can disrupt the natural population density within an
    area. Magpies can out-compete many smaller birds for food and effectively force them out of
    the area. An increased population of magpies may also occur resulting in greater pressure
    on natural food sources.

    What can I do instead to help magpies living in my garden?


    There are plenty of things you can do to encourage magpies in your area without the risk
    of causing harm.

     Ensure magpies are safe from pets on your property.


    o Keep cats indoors, or contained within an outdoor enclosure.
     Avoid using plant and insect poisons, which can be fatal to birds – either by eating
    the poison, or by eating poisoned bugs. Additionally, killing insects will remove a natural
    food source for these birds.

    Feeding magpies is not recommended. However, if you must feed them you
    should aim to minimise the risk of harm:
     Completely avoid unhealthy (and potentially life-threatening) foodstuffs such as bread
    (and other baked goods) and processed meat.

     Offer very small portions of safer foods, and not everyday.


    o Mealworms are a preferred option for omnivorous birds such as magpies.
    o If you are feeding raw meat ensure that:
     it is high quality mince.
     it has been frozen (-20°C) for at least three days to ensureToxoplasma gondii
    is not transmitted.
     you add additional sources of protein and calcium such as Insectivore or
    InsectaPro and calcium carbonate.

     Offer food in ways that minmises the risk of harm.


    o Offer food in elevated locations, to avoid predation by cats and foxes
    o Ensure the feeding station is routinely cleaned to prevent the spread of disease.

    Sources:
    1
    Nagy, K.A., Girard, I.A., Brown, T.K. 1999. Energetics of free-ranging mammals, reptiles and birds.
    Ann. Rev. Nutr. 19: 247-277

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