I haven’t mentioned magpies much lately. They kind of go quiet later in the summer, I guess is one reason. But they’re always around—like crows used to be back in Maine.

Not the same as crows, though. Way too fancy-looking, for one thing. A bit noisier, quicker to freak out. But still you can tell they’re corvids—smart, observant, near to verbal language. Yesterday I spied three or four on the bluff, but they flew as I went to photograph one. (Mostly this was because a hawk showed up unexpectedly.)

Today they were hanging out on the bluff again. And I got a nice photo of one in the process of being noisy.

A lot of folks tend to complain about all the Black-billed Magpies (as humans will do about conspicuous birds generally), but I kind of like ’em.

Lovely nippy hike today. (The temps have begun to dip, as temps will do.)

Grandeur Peak Area List
Beginning at 8:28 a.m., I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.

1. Black-billed Magpie
2. House Finch**
3. Northern Flicker**
4. Mountain Chickadee
5. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
6. Spotted Towhee
7. Dark-eyed Junco
8. American Robin
9. White-crowned Sparrow
10. Downy Woodpecker (v)
11. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
12. Pine Siskin (v)
13. Black-capped Chickadee

Elsewhere

14. House Sparrow
15. Rock Pigeon

Mammals

Red Squirrel (v)

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere