A magpie living in a village near Berlin has advanced from street crime to brazen burglary, flying into people's houses, eating food from their tables and making itself comfortable on their sofas.

"Elsa" first appeared in the village in mid-October and quickly made friends with the residents, swooping onto their shoulders and begging for food.

"People would feed her nuts and everything was quite calm until two weeks ago," local resident Lydia Krüger, 73, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "She decided she wasn't getting enough and just started taking what she wanted."

"Now she flies straight into my living room through the window, eats my marzipan potatoes and chocolates on the table and sits on the sofa," said Krüger.