Our Magpie Condo Expansion

 Our Magpie Condo Expansion

Last year we had a smaller magpie nest in one tree and a larger one in another. This year, the small nest seems to be gone and the big nest seems larger (Helena calls that one "the condo"). The logical inference is that the magpies disassembled the small nest to expand the large one (perhaps to better defend against squirrel incursions).

Do magpies nest in the same place every year?

Both Black-billed and Eurasian magpies often reuse nests, or nest in the same territory. Some 30% to 40% of magpie nests in the USA are reused and upgraded.

In Europe, Eurasian magpies either return to the same territory to nest or reuse last year’s nest. Most magpies are sedentary and remain in their breeding territories throughout much of the year.

https://birdfact.com/articles/magpie-nesting

People worry that magpies eat the songbird eggs, but according to the link, this is not necessarily true. They might actually help the songbird populations. In my area, there seems to be plenty of small birds, though I don’t hear as many chickadees as I used to. But, there has been a lot of infill housing, and thus a reduction in large trees, which probably hurts the populations of some birds.

Magpies are opportunistic omnivores and occasionally feed upon songbird eggs and nestlings. This is not as common as many people seem to think, and either way, it’s the natural behaviour of an opportunistic omnivore. Magpies and other corvids generally don’t affect populations of songbirds.

Paradoxically, some studies even find a correlation between increased corvid numbers and increased songbird numbers. Perhaps the corvids scare away predators that are more troublesome to the songbirds than themselves.

 

And here's a hiking book.  I can't recall if there are any magpies in it, but there are some amusing bird encounters.

Hiking the Wild North Shore of Lake Superior

The north shore of Lake Superior is wild and beautiful. It is also quite sparsely populated, so a hiking trip (or other adventure) will truly give you chance to get away from it all, and back to nature in its full glory.

Lake Superior is big – it is the largest of the North American Great Lakes, and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. One could spend years exploring the area, and still have barely touched the possibilities.

This account focuses on a multi-day backpacking trip in Pukaskwa National Park, some light canoeing in White Lake Provincial Park, and some day-hiking in the Thunder Bay area.

What follows is a journal of some of the highlights of a trip to Northern Ontario in the summer of 1998. That gives the trip a bit of a historical flavor, but things don’t change very quickly in the wild country of the true north, so it will also give the reader a good idea of what to expect during their own exploration of the north shore.

You can purchase it for 99 cents U.S., equivalent price in other currencies.  Alternatively, keep your eyes open for a free promotions, which occur periodically. Or, get it with Kindle Unlimited.

U.S.:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F9TV4C8
U.K.:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F9TV4C8 
Germany:  https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07F9TV4C8

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Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F

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Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F
Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07F9TV4C8  
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07F9TV4C8
Australia:  https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07F9TV4C8
India:  https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07F9TV4C8