A week or so ago I cooked up a packet of mixed wild rice and white rice that had gone beyond the 'best by' date in my kitchen cupboard. Once cooked, I cooled it and fed some of it to the birds, freezing the rest to give to them bit by bit. The thrushes like the rice. Although I rarely see magpies in my back garden, they are common where I live and I saw a flock of them, about 20 or more in number, only the other day from my home's front window. It seems that they like rice too. Now, I am happy for all birds to dine from the complete bird-feeding station that I have at the top end of my back garden even though they are eating rather a lot! However, I wasn't happy today when I was stunned to see two magpies attacking a squirrel. The squirrel was on top of the fence, running along, minding its own business, not heading towards the rice or the bird seed, while two magpies were interested in the rice...
...One magpie saw the squirrel and immediately flew onto the fence behind it. The other magpie flew onto the fence, confronting the squirrel head on. The squirrel took a dash at the squirrel in front which flapped its wings and jumped high into the air, landing so quickly once again in front of the squirrel while the other magpie closed in behind. I have never seen or heard of such aggressive behaviour by birds against squirrels and it shocked and surprised me. I only wish I'd had my camera ready to take the shot.
I solved the War of the Rices problem by letting my Ragdoll cat, Alfie, out into the garden. The magpies flew away as soon as the kitchen door opened and the squirrel easily escaped up into the trees overhead. End of conflict. Then Alfie, who hadn't really taken much notice of any of them, decided it was too wet in the garden anyway, and came back indoors.