Michael Viney responds to readers queries and observations on nature.
Recently, I saw blackbird parents desperately trying to stop a magpie from attacking their fledgling. I intervened, but within a short time it returned, and killed the young blackbird. Something should be done to control the growth in magpie numbers and protect the smaller birds. Ger Connolly, Templeogue, Dublin 6W.
That was nature red in tooth and claw. Would you have been upset if the magpie took the offspring of a field mouse, or if the aggressor was a hawk or an eagle? If all the blackbirds survived, there would be an overpopulation. Magpie numbers have grown because they have a ready supply of food, provided by refuse and an increase in small birds in urban gardens. They take some birds' eggs and fledglings, as well as beetles, rodents, and various caterpillars and other larvae.
Why do some houses have problems with birds attacking their reflections in the windows and others do not? Willie O'Kane, Derry.
The birds' reflections depend on the way the light strikes the windows, and on the other reflections that are on the glass.
Edited by Michael Viney, who welcomes observations sent to him at Thallabawn, Carrowniskey PO, Westport, Co Mayo. E-mail: viney@anu.ie. Observations sent by e-mail should be accompanied by postal address.