magpies

On the suggestion of an experienced birder, I bought a wire wreath and stuffed it with unshelled peanuts. The magpies spent hours skirmishing with each other to grab a peanut. I reveled in the mayhem.

Just before lunch, we pulled up to a dead end at the base of the foothills and looked out into a plowed field to see … yet another magpie. This one,…

When I first moved out West, I was impressed by the large black-and-white bird I noticed strutting around my yard and campsites, its long black tail…