In our traditional culture, the magpie is one of the birds that represent auspiciousness and happiness, the Queqiao bridge in the story of the cowherd weaver girl is composed of magpies, and the theme of "happy branches" is often used in Chinese paintings, and the chirping of magpie birds is often used in the drama to represent that good things are coming.
And magpies are not uncommon in our country, and magpie nests can be seen in trees in many places. So it's also one of the birds we're most familiar with. But unlike sparrows and swallows, magpies may not be as "friendly" as we think, but very ferocious.
<h1>The other side of the magpie</h1>
Magpies have 10 subspecies, of which 4 live in China, because they like to nest on tall trees, so in addition to grasslands, deserts in China, many other places can see the figure of magpies.
Magpies are not afraid of people, but like to live with humans, because humans will help them expel snakes and eagles, which is conducive to the survival of their cubs. Therefore, many magpie nests can be seen around human gathering places; away from human gathering places, magpies are rarely seen.
Although people love magpies and use them as symbols of auspicious birds, they also have an unknown side. The main reason for this is the magpie's feeding habits.
Magpies are omnivores, feeding mainly on insects, small mammals and birds in the summer, and in other seasons they prefer to feed on plant fruits and seeds, including corn, wheat, soybeans, sorghum and other crops. With the protection of the environment and the enhancement of people's awareness of environmental protection in recent years, the number of magpies is also recovering, and even magpies can often be seen in many places, and flocks of magpies have brought certain troubles to local farmers.
When the crop is ripe, flocks of magpies peck at the crop. Magpies also like to eat fruit, and will pick high-quality fruits to eat, and after a few bites, they will peck at other fruits, resulting in reduced fruit production.
In addition, magpies are also a carnivore, they will catch unattended chickens, ducklings, etc., and sometimes attack humans, Australian magpies once pecked at the eyes of local little girls, causing little girls to go blind. Australian authorities have calculated that there are dozens of magpies attacking humans every year, and many people are harmed to varying degrees, and the local magpie warning has even been issued.
Many people who were attacked by magpies said that they did nothing and provoked magpies. The expert explanation for this is that some magpies are more sensitive during nesting and incubation, coupled with their territorial awareness, once close to their nests, they will attack other creatures, humans are just one of them.
In Australia, if koalas dare to move on the trees where they nest, they will also be ruthlessly attacked by magpies, and koalas will be forced to change trees to survive.
Magpies also attack sparrows, occasionally rushing into sparrow formations to hunt them. If they encounter rabbits in the wild, they are also very happy to attack each other as moving snacks; as for human-raised chickens, they often become their food.
Magpies are not a bullying animal, but a stronger animal, when eagles and other birds of prey attack them, magpies will also drive each other away, and even take the initiative to attack each other until the other party escapes.
It can be said that magpies are far more ferocious than we think, but this does not mean that they are "evil birds", but that this is their survival law, and they are only for survival.
<h1>The influence of magpies on ecology</h1>
Although magpies are ferocious, magpies do more harm to agriculture than they do. Compared with swallows, magpies have strong legs and can bounce on the ground in search of food, while swallows can only look for food flying in the air and cannot remove insects on the surface of the soil; sparrows can prey on insects on the surface of the soil, but the sparrow is smaller, the beak is relatively short, and it is difficult to find insects under the soil.
Magpies can not only rummage through insects on the surface of the soil, but they are also large, and the beak of the bird can rummage through the insects under the soil, which is conducive to reducing agricultural pests and diseases.
In addition, magpies are good at nesting, their nests are large and strong, can withstand the attack of wind and rain; they will build multiple nests every year to distract the attention of natural enemies, and these extra nests will be used by other birds that are not good at nesting, so in places where there are more magpies, they will also attract other birds to settle here, which is conducive to restoring the local ecological environment.
<h1>summary</h1>
For animals, as long as they can survive and reproduce, they have completed the task entrusted to them by their ancestors, rather than caring about what humans will think. And this is also the law of survival of all living things, but human beings classify creatures that are beneficial to themselves as "beneficial birds" and "beneficial beasts", and classify creatures that are unfavorable to themselves as "harmful birds" and "harmful beasts", which is really wronged against them.