magpie eating ice cystals

Another of those icy foggy days. Magpie back at the bird feeder early this morning but could not get a drink as the bird bath was frozen and I had not yet had the chance to defrost it.

The magpie flew up onto the roof of our neighbours shed and was using its beak to scratch off and 'eat' the frost that covered the roof of the shed.

Not long after I tipped boiling water into the two bird and separate water bowl to melt the ice and then refilled, tipping in a little of the boiling water to make the water a bit warmer and less likely to refreeze.

Although we have few actually snowy days, there are many days when standing water is frozen and limiting places where birds can get a  drink.

Clever magpie

Magpie demonstrates its a member of the crow family by overcoming the problem of getting food from one of my 'fat ball' bird feeders.

First attempts were from the left hand side of the bird feeder - stretching from the very bendy outer branches of the adjacent buddleia bush, just as his beak touched the fat ball the magpie would over balance and fall off.


The magpie gave up for a while and found small food items underneath the bird feeder - that had been dropped by the sparrows and blue this that visit the feeder.

When the magpie could not find any more food on the ground - it tried again to tackle the bird feeder, from different positions and eventually found a way to reach the food.