Neighbourhood Cat and the Magpies

We have a couple of magpie nests in some trees in our backyard. My wife refers to one of them as “the condominium”, as it is pretty big. It isn’t all that obvious whether it is being used as an actual egg-hatching place, from year to year, as these birds can be surprisingly secretive. However, this year I am quite sure that I spotted a magpie sitting in the nest. Plus, there has been a fair bit of magpie activity around it.

Anyway, a neighbourhood cat also seemed rather inquisitive about the matter, the other day. It was walking on a neighbour's fence, which is near the condominium tree. I saw it from the bedroom window, as it paced tentatively along the fence, seeming to be not sure of what to do. At first I thought it might just be having trouble getting down from the fence, but then rejected that idea, as cats are excellent jumpers. But, I observed that the cat was taking quite an interest in this tree.

Then it started climbing up the tree.

I didn’t want it to get to the nest, as I actually like magpies and don’t mind them raising a brood in our tree. Plus, I have seen magpies go after cats that are heading for a bird nest. They are smart birds and work in a team, so the cat is usually in trouble. So these situations are not great for the cat, either.

I rapped on the window to get its attention, but it mostly ignored me. I quickly went outside, to try to shoo it away, but by that time I got there, the cat was gone and the magpies were being pretty vocal about the affair. I suppose that they chased it off, and it left before I had a chance to see which way it went.

The day before, the magpies were giving neighbourhood squirrel a hard time, as well. So I hope we will be seeing and hearing baby birds soon.