You Stole My Heart, but I Love You Anyway

We are technically at the first post of September. My last post was published 2 minutes before midnight on the 31st, but the WP servers sit in different time zones so it might look like it creeped to the 1st. Normally I would be in full panic mode and wondering if I’ll make it to double digits in total sleep for the week while getting ready for the Haunted Trail event. Due to the ankle injury, I have a bit of reprieve as we had to push the party date three weeks into October. My ankle was pretty adamant that there would be no trail work until at least the brace phase. Still have a lot of work to get done, but I’ll have a few more weeks of some decent sleep before the pressure builds. In the last post I mentioned I just had to get through the tins from Colorado and I would be current to this year. That is now complete – and there was copious amounts of rejoicing. In recognition of this momentous accomplishment, going with a featured feathered friend from that trip.

Hit the jump to learn more about this stout looking bird.

Just to set the stage a bit, this trip didn’t exactly come at a good time. The Teacup Agility Dog Association was having their national competition out in Loveland, CO. Our boys typically compete in this annual event, but this selected location would take some extra time to get to – time we really didn’t have as it was ten days into September…yes THAT September that also has the haunt in the woods a mere two weeks later. I know Linda was disappointed, but we made the smart decision to bow out. This was extra hard because Linda is usually asked to be the professional photographer for the event. To help them out, Linda agreed to meet with their replacement photographer and give him advice on how/what to shoot, pricing and more important – the camera settings to capture those speed demons on the agility course.

With that accomplished months prior to the nationals, we went back to work getting ready for the haunt. Then the call came in “our replacement photographer just quit on us, is there ANY chance you can help us out!!” Linda was torn, Denver is going to cost us at least 4 to 5 days getting out/back and the event itself. We will always help out good people when we can, especially those in a bind. Squeaked every hour I could to get ahead and we made out way out there. Linda sweetened the pot and mentioned we could take an extra day and drop in at Red Rocks Ampitheatre outside Denver which is one of my favorite places to bird in the area (my life list still has seeing a concert there).

Linda managed to find a campground near there called Bear Creek Lake Park. It is not technically a state park, but it certainly has the same feel. Brad and Jan are actually more familiar with this particular area than I am being closely tied to Intrigued’s satellite headquarters located in Denver.

I have to say, Bear Creek Lake was an awesome pick by Linda. That place was quickly put on my list of favorite spots due to both their birding opportunities and their trail running options. Just in case you happen to enjoy sweating in the dirt, I highly recommend taking their 6.6 mile Mt. Carbon Loop trail. That trail will definitely get your heart pumping with the beautiful scenery from the flat(ter) areas along the stream to the switchbacks up what I take to be Mt. Carbon – I was sweating way too much to really know where the hell I was and counting heavily on the word “loop” in the trail name. It was definitely a good warmup for the upcoming 50 mile ultra that was just two weeks past the party…yeah, THAT ultra which will forever live in infamy (link here). Got a loop in that day and then again the next morning before we headed off to Loveland for the event. Oooops got a bit off track here (running does that too me ha).

So, one of the targets for the trip was the Black-Billed Magpie. It had been a long time since I had seen one and it was definitely an open slot in that year’s list. Ever have one of those bird outings where you are full of anticipation for the hunt and ready to do battle with the weather, terrain, obstructions, bugs and the like..well, this was NOT one of those times.

Linda literally backed into out designated camping spot, I jump out and there it is, just sitting there on the picnic table tapping on its little wristwatch with a forbidding toe. “About time you got here, I have things to do and places to go rather than tapping my talons waiting on you. Now get your camera and get this over with.” Didn’t know what I was more surprised with, a talking bird, a bird wearing a wristwatch or the fact the top bird on my list was apparently the park’s Walmart greeter.

I happen to really like this bird. They are full bodied, have a bit of an attitude about them, clearly do not fear our presence and a rather uniquely feathered species. This fondness may be due to those childhood memories of watching Heckle and Jeckle reruns on TV while growing up (before you start on the math, they stopped making new shows a year before I was born). Okay, technically those are supposed to be Yellow-Billed Magpies but that is still a bit of a reach in my opinion. Yes, it just occurred to me a few sentences later that those were TALKING Magpies so that should not have surprise me hehehe.

How about we get you some background on this particular species. First of all, they are nonmigratory (beyond some intra-regional movement) and call home a huge swath of northern states ranging from all the way to Alaska, down into Utah, Colorado and over toward the Great Lakes. For some reason no interest in the stateside western coastal zone. Beyond our Colorado sightings, we used to always see them on our trips out to Yellowstone National Park. To this day, when I see one I immediately think of those times searching for Wolves in that park. Probably no surprise, but they are members of the Corvidae family which includes the Crows, Ravens, Jays, the Nutcracker and apparently something called a Jackdaw that I have never heard of before. Dominant across this family are the blacks, blues and whites/offwhites – all of which the Black-Billed proudly displays. It is hard not to give the Green Jay top spiffy honors in this family, but the Magpie can definitely hold its own with rest of this group (honorable mention being the Steller’s and we shall not speak of that Blue J-ass).

The Black-Billed Mags come in from 17 to 24 inches with a ~23 inch wingspan. Definitely dwarfs the Elf Owl from the last post. I think Maggies tail alone is longer than that Owl. If they are in the area, you will notice them immediately when they take flight. Those white wing tips and the white horse reins are dead giveaways – all easily seen against the blacks in the body and the beautiful blue/green hues in the wings and tail. I am pretty sure they have a special place on my brother Ron’s bird totem being that they are “Tick eaters”. Anything that does harm to a Tick is a friend of Ron’s. I would like to see on a future outing if a Magpie will pick one off of him like they do from Deer and Moose. “Hold still Ron, let that tick get really full while I go flush out a Magpie“. We here at Intrigued are committed to valuable research for our fellow birding community. These birds will eat just about anything – fruits, insects, small animals and the fly maggots in carrion. See a bunch of Magpies out in the field, likely going to find an apex predator kill nearby. Okay, I do have to admit they are nest predators although Cornell does state that it “make[s] up only a tiny portion of the bird’s overall diet”. The kinder gentler machine gun hand.

Will call it there folks. Hope you enjoyed this look at a Colorado mainstay.

Oh Maggie, I wished I’d never seen your face
You made a first class fool out of me
But I’m as blind as a fool can be
You stole my heart, but I love you anyway