[cobirds] Re: The Last Magpie - University Blvd. - Arapahoe

Oh irony -- today, while waiting to cross University Blvd., I added a 54th species to my DU list: a Black-billed Magpie, who floated over (as magpies seem to do) the apartment buildings near campus. 

Thanks to everyone who sent me a message about magpies!

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

On Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 9:22:00 PM UTC-7 Jared Del Rosso wrote:

I live a few houses off of S. University Blvd in Centennial. I work a few streets off of S. University Blvd. at DU. 

In my six years of making this commute, which is not much longer by car or bus than by the flight of a crow, I've grown accustomed to seeing a single magpie fly over University, just south of S. Hampden Blvd. (I saw one this morning, which precipitated this post.)

Then the species disappears, until (roughly) City Park in Denver. Crows can be found at the King Soopers on University, just north of Hampden -- as well as at the hot spots between Hampden and City Park. So, too, can Blue Jays. 

But there's a relative dearth of magpies for about 6 miles along University.

Of course, they're not entirely absent -- only relatively so. But they're by no means common along this stretch.

At both Wash Park and the Botanic Gardens, they're often not reported, and they appear on fewer than 10% of checklists at both spots. I remember seeing them at Denver Botanic Gardens once in my time birding there. (eBird tells me I've submitted 198 complete checklists to the gardens.) I also distinctly remember another member of their family -- I can't remember if it was a Blue Jay or a Crow, though I think the latter -- escorting them out of the area.

By contrast, at deKoevend Park, which University borders in Centennial, you'll (almost) always see magpies. It's the same at City Park. At both places, Magpies are reported on roughly 40-100% of checklists at both spots, on a week by week basis. (deKoevend has some weeks of very few checklists, so there are weeks where there are no magpies reported.) 

It's always struck me as a bit curious, though I'm sure the magpies have their reasons. Maybe it has to do with the density of human buildings and the extensiveness of "undeveloped" spaces." But it still seems odd to me that both larger and smaller corvids, crows and jays, are at home in areas that mapgies avoid.

None of the three species seem to have changed their breeding range all that much between the two Breeding Bird Atlases, though mapgies had the largest decline in confirmed breeding of the three species. (Most of that decline seems to have happened along the eastern edge of the state.)

What's in a name?

The scientific name of the Black-billed Magpie is Pica hudsonia. I grew up in New York State, near the Hudson River; the hudsonia confused me, since the birds are most definitely scarcer in New York State than they are at Denver Botanic Gardens. (That is, they're not in NY.) But here it refers to Hudson Bay in Saskatchewan, where it seems like Sabine encountered and described them (but I haven't had a chance to dive into that effort).

The genus name for magpies, Pica, connects the human with the bird. It refers to an urge to eat or a behavior of eating non-nutritional foodstuff. Apparently, the use of the word to describe human behavior comes from the tendency of magpies to eat (or at least inspect) a great diversity of potential food items. 

Until somewhat recently (perhaps until 2000, according to this AOS supplement), "our" magpie was a subspecies of Pica pica, the common magpie of Europe and much of Asia. I didn't start birding until a decade or so after that, so perhaps someone with a longer memory than me can vouch for this.

A few years ago, I watched a young magpie stare at one of my chickens. The chicken stared back. They both seemed to recognize something in the other. In typical magpie fashion, the young magpie then tried to tear a tag off a small solar light near the chicken coop. That's really the only time I've seen a magpie behave in the way we're told magpies behave -- with an interest in collecting human objects.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

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