Black-billed Magpie Portrait In Whiteout Conditions

Black-billed Magpie portrait in a winter whiteout – Nikon D810, f14, 1/125, ISO 640, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

I seem to be on a high key bird photo kick this month so I thought I would add one more of a Black-billed Magpie I photographed in a winter whiteout just a few days shy of four years ago. The weather conditions on Antelope Island State were horrible but my friend and fellow photographer, David Sparks, was visiting Utah so despite the snowy, blowy, foggy, wet and nasty conditions we went out in search of birds.

Our first destination was Antelope Island State Park where it was difficult to find birds because of the poor weather conditions but we did manage to find a few.

I photographed this Black-billed Magpie as it perched on a trash container and sign post. The magpie must have been cold because it didn’t fly off right away which allowed me to take a series of portraits of it in the whiteout conditions. In fact, the magpie images were the only photos I kept from that day.

The Black-billed Magpies here in northern Utah will soon start to build new nests which take about 40 to 50 days to construct or reinforce nests they have used in previous years. I usually begin to notice their nest building behaviors around the end of the first week of February and that is just a few days away now. It has been a warmer than normal winter here in the Salt Lake Valley so these loud but enchanting corvids may even start to build their nests earlier than usual. I know I will be looking for them when I can get back out into the field, that is if the weather ever cooperates.

High key images don’t tickle everyone’s fancy but I enjoy taking them when I can and I like this one.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Black-billed Magpie photos plus facts and information about this species.