Nature’s best — no better formula for birds and babes

EACH YEAR, at about this time, a pair of local magpies and a troop of jackdaws regularly raid the bird table. The jackdaws hang upside down on the peanut feeder, banging away with their beaks.

Both species drive all other birds away. However, the scraps may help to make the magpies less voracious in stealing other birds’ eggs and nestlings to feed their own young.

Also, seen close up, the jackdaws in breeding plumage are very handsome birds, with a jet black crown on a blue-grey mantle, and shiny black wings. Soon, there will be the inexpert, gawky young. The easy pickings at the bird table attracts them.