Wild Species
Good Housekeeping
Recently (March 2020) a pair of Black-Billed Magpies have begun building a nest in the Schubert Cherry tree that resides in our front yard as seen here.
Although the magpie is taken for granted in Alberta and elsewhere, I have always admired them as other than Ravens, Magpies are one of the smartest birds around.
I have always admired the nest they build, as it consists of a elaborate domed assembly that is constructed of sticks held together with mud. The reason for the closed in dome nest is to protect the nest against the weather and predators. The entrance to the nest is located on one side of the nest.
Once they are done building the nest, it will be interesting to see how they behave with our coming and going out of our front door, as the nest is no more than 20 feet away. I understand through research that they would have scouted out the location initially, and have accepted us as being of no danger to them.
Now visitors coming to our door may be something else, it will be interesting to see how that goes once there are eggs in the nest followed by little ones.
