Nest site selection of the Magpie Pica pica sericea in Beijing of China

Abstract

Nest building and nest site selection of the Black-billed magpie Pica pica sericea were studied in Beijing, China, during 2004China, during -2006. A total of 814 Magpie nests have been checked and measured. The results showed that the first nest building occurred at the end of December, but most pairs started in February. Mostly, a new nest was built for each nesting attempt; sometimes an old nest was renovated. Magpies mobbed potential predators very intensively during the breeding season, especially congeners. Magpies build nests in strong and tall trees (51% of all nests in Populus sp.). If there is no suitable tree for building, they also build their nests on man-made constructions, such as telegraph poles, water towers, etc. Nests were always located in the upper part of the crown, domed and with one or two entrances. Four types of habitat were identified in this study: urban residential area, urban park, suburban area, and exurb. Analysis of the factors that may affect nest site selection in different habitats indicated that the height of the nesting tree was the most important one. From the outer exurb to the city centre, with the increasing number of people and cars, the height of the trees Magpies chose for nesting increased accordingly. Magpies can find enough food and face less predation pressure in the urban area, which enables them to breed successfully in the urban environment of Beijing.

Selection of Urbanized Areas by Magpie Pica pica in a Medium Size City in Poland

“…In the second half of the XXth century, Magpies showed a spectacular colonization of Eurasian towns [15]. Studies on urbanization of bird populations provide important information about the causal factors behind the regulation of bird numbers [15]. The Magpie density in Gorzów Wlkp.…”

“…as a breeding site, followed by poplars Populus sp. In contrast, many studies indicate that the vast majority of nests are built on poplars [5,10,15,23,26,[33][34][35]. However, an increasing share of conifers has been recorded in recent years by several investigations [5,11,36], which is related to three factors.…”

“…The Magpies did not use urban nests sites randomly, but in a way that maximizes the use of the new habitats available, e.g., conifers. The species is also very flexible in nesting behaviour [15]. However, changes in preference for a specific nest site height do not have to be caused exclusively by minimizing human disturbance.…”

“…We also focused on the analysis of nest site selection along an urban gradient due to lack of sufficient knowledge in the field of selectivity of the Magpie's nesting places. Publications from recent years indicate that the magpie is concentrated in the centres of large cities and leave the semi-open areas of the suburbs for highly urbanized areas [11,15].…”

New Year’s Eve Fireworks Impact On The Number Of Magpies On The Roosting Place

“…In the second half of the 20 th century on urbanised areas the magpie number started to increase rapidly (Birkhead 1991, Jerzak 2001, Zhengmei Wang et al 2010. A large density of breeding pairs resulted into increase of roosting flocks number.…”