Some bird species fledge later in the higher altitudes of the mountains of Utah than they do in the Salt Lake Valley, Black-billed Magpies are among those birds. Typically I see Black-billed Magpie fledglings around the first few weeks of April in the Salt Lake Valley but I don’t normally see them on their own in the Wasatch Mountains until about the middle of July. The magpies start nesting later at higher elevations.
Fledgling Black-billed Magpie perched in a Utah Serviceberry – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/400, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Four days ago I came across about a dozen fledgling Black-billed Magpies in almost the same exact spot where I found a large flock of young magpies last year. Last year the magpies were a touch less skittish than they were four days ago. I was only able to fire off a few shots of the immature magpies. Unfortunately I wasn’t positioned to get the best light angle to have the iridescent blue, green and purple colors of the tail and wings show in my photos.
I liked this image of one of the fledgling Black-billed Magpies I photographed because of the serviceberry perch, the great eye contact I had with the young bird and its pose.
Fledgling Black-billed Magpie portrait – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Last year I mentioned in my post that young Black-billed Magpies have violet-blue to blue-gray irises and that shows well in the photo I took four days ago and in this portrait that I took of one of the immature magpies in the flock of fledglings that I found and photographed last year.
Hopefully the young Black-billed Magpies will hang around and I’ll have a few more opportunities this summer to photograph them as they learn to hunt, forage and learn to survive in their mountain home.
Life is good. Stay safe.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Black-billed Magpie photos plus facts and information about this species.
So cool! Even the fledglings have those wonderfully iridescent feathers. 🙂
Such an alert and beautiful charmer – and so very different to our own magpies (which I also love).
Thank you. Again.
Always a great way to start my day.
As I read your blog on magpies I am sitting in my yard watching the antics of 4 juvenile magpies at my bird feeders. Their parents were with them until this week. The parents seem to have moved on and the gang of 4 youth are up to mischief in my yard.