Meal time for a Magpie

tamrock · Jun 15, 2015

I pulled over to do my business off the side of the road today and noticed this road kill carcass of a mule deer thrown up off the road. This Magpie didn't take on to much caution with me there and flew in to dine on this dead deer. Magpie and man have coexisted out in the north American west for thousands of years I'm guessing. Looking at some cool fact about this bird, include, historical records of the American west indicate that, Magpies have been associates of people for a long time. Magpies frequently followed hunting parties of Plains Indians and fed on leftovers from bison kills. On their expedition, Lewis and Clark reported magpies boldly entering their tents to steal food. Thanks to the modern highway systems and mans garbage and waste, I think the Magpie has a very good chance he'll survive many more years in the future from the benefits of man. It's almost like the Great Spirit, had it planned all along to see to it, the Magpie will be well taken care of by the works of man to live a very hardy life then, now and in the future. He's a very lucky bird I'd say.

Jim in Idaho · Jun 16, 2015

Yup....last two critters left on earth will be the magpie, and the coyote....LOL
Jim

BosnMate · Jun 16, 2015

I haven't been east of the Cascades for several years now, and the last time I was there West Nile virus had almost completely wiped the Magpies out. In two or three days I only saw
a dozen Magpies where there used to be hundreds. Sad. Kind of like what small pox did to the Native Americans.

Jim in Idaho · Jun 16, 2015

Yes....when our county was the hardest-hit in the entire country about 7 years ago, we lost nearly all our magpies, too. But, they eventually recovered, and while not at previous numbers, they're doing fine.
Jim

BosnMate · Jun 17, 2015

I have a gross magpie story, so if you don't like gross stories, stop reading now. I was working for a cow outfit in Nevada, and the owner bought 300 head of pregnancy tested heifers. We had
them in their own field, and during calving time we would check them several times each day and night. Probably a third to a half of the births required our help, and I think I probably pulled more calves
than a lot of veterinarians have in their life time. Anyhow, that's not the story, one heifer had a calf that just had it's head out. I don't know how long she had been having problems,
but -- here's the gross part -- the Magpies had eaten the calf's eyes. I won't go any further, except to say we saved the heifer.