Magpie couple at my flower-pot

This is a video from the Netherlands about a magpie trying to drive away a cat which came too close to its nest.

This afternoon, the two magpies which I wrote about earlier were back at my balcony.

First one ate grain from the old flower-pot, while the other bird waited patiently on the railing. Then the other magpie ate.

They both flew away. A few minutes later, they were back for some more grain. However, the flower-pot is almost empty now.

Probably, they are the magpie couple of the nest this spring opposite my window. That nest is clearly visible now that so many leaves have been blown away.

Cuckoos that lay their eggs in the nest of a magpie so that their chicks can be raised by the latter better hope that their young are not raised together with other magpies. The chances of cuckoo fledglings raised in mixed broods being fed by their foster parents are much lower, according to research led by Manuel Soler of the Universidad de Granada in Spain. The findings are published in Springer’s journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology: here.

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