Hi, after two seasons of Magpies eating our baby birds... My husband devised a humane " decoy". Magpies and Cats ( who will also get baby birds if the nest is closer to the ground or within reach) ...listen for the baby bird's cries. My husband put a bowl of birdseed down on the ground near the nest.. and this accomplishes several things: 1) It is a humane way of dealing with Magpies. 2) It reduces the baby bird's cries as Mama and Papa bird don't have to fly too far away from the nest for food and 3) a lot of other birds try and get to the food too... such as bigger birds like Quail... Magpies are confused by all the other activity ( they watch for the Mama and Daddy birds flying to the nest ) ....and ..they don't want to tangle with the bigger birds like Quail etc that also want to get to the seed. We only keep the bowl filled as long as the babies are in the nest. Hope this helps someone else with this problem.