Determined Magpie

Ever since I put bird feeders out it has attracted a variety of birds, mostly small breeds that can actually perch on them and feed without any problems, however, the magpies and squirrels are very determined despite the fact they cannot get to the seed very easily. Take this very determined magpie for example, I had been photographing small birds such as the chaffinch and greenfinch when I noticed them all quickly fly off. I heard the magpies harsh throaty song just as it landed on the fence close to the feeder furthest from the house, then without hesitation he took off and flew straight for the feeder. Fortunately I had my camera on a tripod standing next to me in the room so I grabbed it and snapped away. As you can see the magpie did it and after not much practice, he would fly towards it, tilt up and then grab the perches on either side whilst still flapping his wings to steady himself and then use his relatively long beak to grab the seeds. This amazed me really as I had seen a pigeon attempt the same with no success at all, in fact it was fairly amusing watching him try, unfortunately I didn't capture this on camera and haven't seen any pigeons try again since. I was lucky that I had left my camera set up as this really was a case of right place right time, rather than the patient sitting and waiting for the birds to appear.