Magpie sighted

[John Harris <>]

I have seen considerable numbers of magpies in NZ farm land. NZ Birds Online says they are ‘a common and conspicuous inhabitant of open country’.  In my original post I did say that the belief that they are a threat to native species is ‘possibly incorrect’. But they are widely so regarded. I had friends with a farm near Waikato. The Waikato Council makes landowners responsible for the control of magpies on their property and suggests a combination of trapping, shooting and poisonong to eradicate them.  

From: David Rees <>
Date: Friday, 9 January 2015 11:58 pm
To: John Harris <>, chatline <m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");">>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Magpie sighted

John

No serious evidence of that in NZ,  In my experience Magpies in NZ can be found in not great numbers in open agricultural districts in the North island, they are fairly wary and they don't have a great 'press' with the locals. The abundant Swamp Harrier is probably a greater threat to other birds in open country.  You never see magpies in native forests, where most of the native birds survive. You do find Indian mynas, European blackbirds, Chaffinches and Eastern Rosellas in such places though.  Where there is active stoat and possum control, as Nathanaeal below says, there is an amazing rebound in the fortunes of NZ native birds.  I know forests in the Central north Island that are alive with the otherworldly calls of the local birds as a result.

David.

On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 9:50 PM, John Harris <> wrote:

Magpies were introduced into NZ in the 1860s and are now very common and officially listed as a pest species due to the possibly incorrect assumption that they are a threat to NZ native birds.

From: Megan Mears <>
Date: Friday, 9 January 2015 9:29 pm
To: chatline <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Magpie sighted

Not that unusual but it was in The Catlins region, south in the South Island NZ, a few days ago. 

Megan