I've put out eggshells to tempt the bird in and enjoyed watching it peck them over, as an incentive I put bits of food under the shell, now I've noticed the bird no longer pecks the eggshells, it lifts them to look underneath! It's usually around when I feed the hens in the morning, sat on the barn roof when I open the door but when I go in the barn it hops along the barn roof and watches me through a skylight, then returns to the ridge until I go back in the house. Then it's down to the lawn to pick up the few pellets I chuck down.
This afternoon was the best yet, I was sat in the dining room and saw "Maggie" on the lawn, very definitely watching me so I got some stale bread and threw it on the lawn, the bird didn't fly, just stood until I went back in and sat down, then approached the bread. A few pecks and it realised this was properly stale bread! Dry and hard, not easy to break but this is where Maggie showed her intelligence. She picked up a large piece and hopped onto the birdbath, dropped the bread in and waited for a few seconds, then broke it up and ate it. 3 times this was done, the last time Maggie flew off with a beak full of food so I'm assuming it's a "she" and is feeding youngsters.
Having got a bit of rapport with this remarkable bird I'm going to leave her and her family alone for a while and see if she brings the fledglings to meet me, it'll be interesting to see if they'll be as wary as magpies usually are! If they really get used to me it will be much easier to sort the buggers out!
I`ve seen crows and magpies peck the tab off which keeps the carton locked so they will spring open so they can reach the left overs.
