I've got a bird behavior question....

While visiting in the Tri-Cities earlier this week I got to observe MAGPIES in action. Although they look like slender crows dressed up in tux and tails their body language and flight behavior made me think of jays. They seem to be faster fliers than crows and so much more direct in their flight. Their voices sound like large jays. So, does anybody know who the magpies are more closely related to? I think the magpies are the most beautiful of the Corvid family. I wish we had them on this side of the mountains.

Oh, and I also got to see one of those Golden Eagles I read about when I got home......The one I saw was in the vicinity of Road 78 in Pasco right along the river trail. I also observed a Red Tailed Hawk in hot pursuit of a starling. Sad to say the starling got away.
And speaking of raptors.......were the smaller, frowsy piles of feathers sitting in the trees along side the river Red Tails or other raptors. The light was lousy for me to get a real look at the big birds

Does anyone know anything about a guy on Vashon Island who trains ravens?? I got to watch a video of a raven doing some pretty strange things for a bird (wrestling with a cat toy!) and supposedly the ravens this guy trains can also talk.

Lydia In Kent, WA

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