Resting Black-billed Magpie close up – Nikon D500, f8, 1/800, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light
I’ve been photographing nest building Black-billed Magpies this past month but I haven’t been happy with the settings I have photographed them in because the backgrounds are either messy or the backgrounds are dull, plain tan to brown hues. Those colors and hues just don’t set these striking black and white birds off well in my opinion.
So far this year the only photo I’ve taken of the nest building magpies that I have liked is this close up of a resting Black-billed Magpie who was taking a break from looking for nesting materials. The magpie was so close I had to remove my teleconverter just to fit the top part of the bird’s body into the viewfinder of my camera. These magpies can be quite bold at times and this one certainly was as it gave me a great view of its face, bill, eyes and chest.
I sometimes wish that these Black-billed Magpies started nesting just a little later in the year so that I could have more spring-like backgrounds to work with plus some hints of green in the frames but these birds have to do what they need to do when they need to do it and since it can take them more than 40 days to construct their nests they need all the time they can get.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Black-billed Magpie photos plus facts and information about this species.
They are smart. We released 3 magpies in our yard from the rehab. They were part of a group is 5. The other 2 were not ready to go. The first 3 stayed around our yard and when we bought the remaining 2 to our home to weather outside for a couple of days before release the 3 amigos figured out how to open their cage and set them free on the first day.
Wish we had them here in Southern Ontario. Beautiful photo.
Love the photo, Mia