Hello Dennis and Tweeters,
I must so agree with you Dennis,i could not imagin not seeing this flashy
most visible birds in Eastern Washington.I birded in the late eighties on
Ocean Shores,it was on a fieldtrip. Some birder hollow Magpie Magpie,we all
looked for a long time for this bird what would be quite rare to find on
the westside.But all the birders that day want to see and find this Magpie.
I realy never encounter myself any one wrote or said anything negative
about this species.

Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma
godwit at worldnet.att.net
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> From: Dennis K Rockwell <denniskrockwell at juno.com>
> To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: dissin' Magpies in Othello
> Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 5:53 PM
>
> Rob and Tweeters,
>
> First I will make my position on Black-billed Magpies absolutely clear:
> they are my favorite bird species. They are intelligent and beautiful
> and I think that when our species has slipped into extinction, the
> coyotes will still have the magpies to keep them company. To my mind,
> the magpie is THE bird of the west, at least the west this side of the
> Cascades and Sierra Nevadas.
>
> I think that some of the disdain for magpies (as for coyotes) out here in
> cow country may stem from the commonly held belief among agriculturists
> (particularly the older ones) that land ownership grants them the right
> to the control of all things organic or mineral on, over or under said
> land. Thus, they view critters such as magpies and coyotes the way
> urbanites might view burglars and car prowlers. Magpies, together with
> ravens and possibly crows, have been accused of attacking and injuring or
> even killing newborn livestock. Now I've never seen such a thing myself
> and if it does happen I imagine that it's a relatively rare occurrence,
> but some people just can't tolerate competition, no matter how minor,
> when they think it impinges on their livelihood. For my part, I don't
> mind that they help themselves to dry dog food from my Chow Chow's food
> dish by the front door and he apparently doesn't either.
>
> I remember during the late 50's when I was a farmer's kid growing up on
> the reservation out west of Harrah in the Yakima Valley that the sporting
> goods department of the Monkey Wards store in Yakima was offering a
> bounty of 5 cents for each pair of magpie legs. Well the BLM has
> discovered with attempts at coyote control that even if you manage to
> kill all the coyotes in an area, nature in it's famous hatred of a
> vacuum, spills some over from adjacent areas to fill the gap and if you
> only manage to kill most of the coyotes, then those remaining simply have
> bigger litters and raise smarter pups. I believe that the same holds
> true with magpies. Viva Corvidae ! Viva Pica pica !
>
> Dennis K Rockwell, Kennewick, Washington denniskrockwell at juno.com
>
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