I’ve been watching a Black-billed Magpie nest in a greasewood bush on Antelope Island all spring but the adults are very spooky and always fly off as I approach (the nest is very near a road and I stay in my vehicle on the road). But I’ve been looking forward to seeing the fledglings and I finally got a good look at all five of them last week. Clutch size can very from 1 – 9 eggs so you never know how many youngsters will show up when the fledglings emerge from the nest.
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These young birds were just beginning to fly and they spent a lot of time exercising their muscles and developing their flight skills as they went from perch to perch. Here you can see a sibling in the background.
1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light
This one gave me a nice, leisurely wing stretch before it…
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flew off to the next perch. The large gapes of these fledglings are very apparent at this stage, especially…
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when one of the parents flies near and they start begging for food.
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Here you can see the wing of one of the adults as it flew by from right to left and the reaction of the young bird as it screamed for something to eat.
1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light
This is one of the adults as it takes a rest and watches over the family.
It’s an understatement to say that some folks don’t like magpies (though I’m in a different camp). They’re raucous, bold, smart, opportunistic and aggressive. Learned behaviors of an individual bird often spread to the entire flock (called “cultural transmission) so their tendency to peck at saddle sores on horses or mules (sometimes to the point that the animals died), prey on eggs of poultry, songbirds and upland game birds and rob traplines made them quite unpopular. Lewis and Clark even reported in their journals that magpies stole food out of their tents and ate from their hands. They were persecuted as vermin and a bounty was paid for their eggs and decapitated heads for many years.
A confession: many years ago (before I retired) magpies built a nest in a large tree just a few feet from my home. They were so loud, beginning very early in the morning, that I lost many hours of sleep in the springtime and then when the chicks fledged things got even worse. So late that fall I removed the nest – a task that wasn’t easy because it was high up in the tree. That was an act that I regret to this day. I actually miss their antics – including their propensity to torment the cats of my neighbor by sneaking up behind them on the lawn and pulling their tails. Now magpies are nesting in a Blue Spruce across the street – too far away for me to really enjoy their behaviors but close enough to remind me every day of my short-sightedness.
Another lesson learned…
Ron
Note: I’ll be out of town for a few days this week with no computer access and a limited and unreliable cell phone signal so I’ll likely get any comments you may leave (via email) but I won’t be able to respond to them until I return.
Beautiful birds, wonderfully documented. I love the open beak ones best!
Back again. I have been thinking about your begging magpie fledglings all day. Ours also beg. Loudly and often. And often until they are as big as the parents. I wondered at that, but was told that while the magpie might have reached adult size, their beaks do not completely harden for up to a year. So they beg, and are fed rather than damage those beaks plunging them into our sun baked ground.
Oh yes! after reading Elephant’s Child’s comments I remembered seeing something bouncing off a parked car, and just a few seconds later something else bounced off.I thought, “what on earth?” watched a while, then realized that there was a magpie in a tree above the car dropping acorns onto the surface of the roof and hood, one after the other, quite enjoying itself.
I think that I might have mentioned a fight between a small rabbit and the magpie with the bunny up on its hind legs punching at the bird while the latter gave a few pokes in the hind quarters.. The bird was just teasing the young one but can poke out the eyes. Yes, they can be loud and obnoxious but I admire their family systems and how they seem to keep in touch with one another.I observed a gathering of the clan one night while they kept calling, and one by one they flew in from all directions to meet them went off again. There were 14 in all. I have seen them chase cats and bunnies and poke them in the butt and watched two birds play team tag-drives the cats crazy.The fledglings are attractive. good shots.
Like dinahmow I love our magpies. They are a joy and when I have been away it is their song which tells me I am home. I have never seen them pull a cat’s tail but have seen a magpie (twice) quite deliberately crap on a cat who was chittering at it from beneath the tree the magpie was perched in.
Thank you Ron. We don’t have magpies here. They are so pretty and the fledglings are precious. First time I have seen a fledgling Magpie.
Really nice series of photos. You managed to get a lot of the elusive blue coloration, which is very pretty.
I assume magpies, like crows ravens and jays, are corvids…all of whom are very intelligent, inventive and amusing in spite of their well-earned “bad boy” reputations. I’ve found grackles and crows to be among the most interesting birds I’ve raised. They could be real trouble makers ,very demanding and persistentt pests, but we’re a lot of fun.
We aren’t blessed with Magpies in Florida, but their Corvidae relatives exhibit similar behavior and can elicit that whole range of emotions from humans you describe.
Wonderful photographs, Ron. Thank you!
What a joy to see! Thanks for sharing your fantastic shots!
Charlotte
Great shots Ron, love em!!
There are some Humans who have a hard time when a bird seems to be as smart as us!
Isn’t Natural Selection great!
Ron
Birds and my responses to them have taught me some of the most important lessons of my life.
Thanks for your thoughts and of course for the photos of the fledglings
I like magpies.And I can appreciate their “learned behaviours.” Here, cyclists thread cable ties through their helmets as a dive-bombing deterrant. Are your American birds also great songsters and mimics?