Magpies - Adult and Juvenile

[Alan B]

There is a family of Magpies that live somewhere near my house.Now and again they pay the garden a visit.But the best bit is the Juvenile one, is always being naughty, making the parents shout at him/her :lol: .Ending in the farther chasing and sqwarking at the young one :lol: .

The easy'ly "wound up" Farther
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yi4n76&outx=600&noresize=1&original=1&nostamp=1

The naughty young one
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yi4n7v&outx=600&noresize=1&original=1&nostamp=1

20D
EF 500 f4 L

[Sindri Skulason]

Excellent shots of the magpies. Both are super sharp with good details and exposure is spot on. Well done. :-)

[Paul A]

Well done Alan, sharp, nice the way the blue comes out in the light.

[98photo]

The first one reminds me of E.A. Poe...sitting over the door..."Nevermore"
Cool photos!

[Alan B]

Thanks for your comments :) .

[Anthony J Howe]

Yes, there is always that naughty boy and it happens in a magpies life as well.
Excellent shots Alan of the father and son magpie.
One keeps visiting my garden and is very camera shy because as soon as he sees the camera he's off like a bullet.

[alpha788]

Nice capture on the magpies - great detail!

[ZipDude66]

This bird looks like a exposer nightmare but you did a great job. Love the emotions on there faces and sharp as a razor.

Zip

[dewmuw]

Magpies get a bad press but I really like them. Great portraits - the youngster looks like a scruffy kid!

[Alan B]

Magpies get a bad press but I really like them. Great portraits - the youngster looks like a scruffy kid!

lol yeah and he's a pain in the ass :lol:

Thanks for your comments :D :cool:

[dancad]

Great job in handling the exposure. Nice and sharp too, nice details in the feathers - particularily in the first shot.

[Nick C.]

Great shots Alan! Love the first one.

The photos are as sharp as the talons on the father.

[RJSorensen]

We got 10 cents a head for them as kids . . . they are bad birds. Nice shot however . . .

[dancinec]

Great shots, never seen a magpie, so this is a wonderful introduction to them. Well done.

[Nick C.]

We got 10 cents a head for them as kids . . . they are bad birds. Nice shot however . . .

Yeah they're not too fond of playing nice. Despite the nuisance they're a protected species here in Australia. We have to leave their heads alone.

[Grizz]

Really nice! I tried to capture them in Alaska and just could not get a good one. But I see you have! Excellent work.

[kr88]

Well done. The detail and the exposure is nice done. The feathers show great color and sharpness.

[Alan B]

Thank you ALL for your kind words :D :cool:

RJSorensenWe got 10 cents a head for them as kids . . . they are bad birds.

I can see they would get upto things, but what did they do in the way of being bad, that you had to shoot them ?.

[Gary Fairhead]

Very nice pair of images here with the tricky exposure handled very nicely , Great detail and I especially like the second image.

[RJSorensen]

They like to eat the eggs of our upland game birds. They can ruin a fall hunt before the Pheasants and etc. even get a chance to clear the egg themselves. So our local wildlife federation put a bounty on them, and in the doing kept us kids out of trouble as well. They are a smart bird and hard to hunt. You more or less earned your dime. But if you were a good shot, two birds would get you a pop and a pie.

We have enough falcons and such now that they don't bother us much as they used too, the DDT ban helped out a lot with that one. You should see those birds harvest a hatch of young birds . . . I think I have seen too much nature to enjoy it at times. As noted your shot was very nice and not as lethal as mine . . . used to be.

Down in the Cache Valley, where Jim Bridger cached his pelts as late as 1900 or so they held the great varmint hunt every other year. Two teams of all of the men and boys in the valley, north and south would brush the valley floor, there would be several hundred men and boys old enough to shoot 10 to 12 years old would start in the morning and walk towards each other. They would "remove" all the varmints they saw, birds such as crows and mags, bear, griz, cats, wolverines, coyotes, wolves, any creature that was harmful to the settlers and or their families. Points were given and scores were kept. The looses buying the winners, or rather putting on a great meal for them. Even the few indians still here would help to clear the valley of what was in those times, pests.

Wolves have just come back into my neck of the woods from Yellowstone, and I suppose it a good thing. But to see the cattle and deer they tear into shreds . . . I have perhaps seen too much nature to enjoy it. I am neither for nor against. Just at the time it took all you could grow to feed your family. Now it is not the same, we can produce too much. I don't mind letting them have some of it back, if they won't hold a grudge for my grandparents "removing" them.

Even the head bounty is a thing of the past now. They raise birds under nets where they are safe and take them out for the city folks to shoot as needed. Things have changed.