{"id":35174,"date":"2016-01-31T05:36:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T12:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=35174"},"modified":"2025-02-19T08:28:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T14:28:25","slug":"portraits-of-a-black-billed-magpie-in-a-snowstorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/31\/portraits-of-a-black-billed-magpie-in-a-snowstorm\/","title":{"rendered":"Portraits of a Black-billed Magpie in a Snowstorm"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 27th of January I was able to take some portraits of a Black-billed Magpie<\/a><\/span> adult and when I published the images I said:<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t often that I am able to be so close to a Black-billed Magpie as I was yesterday morning on Antelope Island State Park<\/a><\/span> but when I am that close I will take advantage of the situation. I only have a few portraits of an adult Black-billed Magpie and yesterday I was able to add several of them to my portfolio.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"PortraitPortrait of a Black-billed Magpie in a Snowstorm – Nikon D810, f14, 1\/640, ISO 2000, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Who knew that just three days later I’d be able to take more portraits of a Black-billed Magpie but this time in a near-whiteout snowstorm?<\/p>\n

Typically I wouldn’t have been out on Antelope Island in the conditions that were present yesterday, low light, fog and snow that was falling sideways. But a friend and fellow photographer from Florida, David Sparks, was visiting and had never been to Antelope Island so we were out on the island in some pretty awful conditions to see what we might find.<\/p>\n

The first bird I raised my lens for yesterday was this Black-billed Magpie in a snowstorm near the visitor center.<\/p>\n

\"Black-billedBlack-billed Magpie close up in a snowstorm – Nikon D810, f14, 1\/500, ISO 2000, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I have to disclose that this Black-billed Magpie was perched on a trash container and a post right next to it the whole time I photographed it so you just never know what setting you might find a subject in to photograph but I know I will photograph them any way.<\/p>\n

The dark spot near the middle of the magpie’s eye is the pickup we were using as a mobile blind.<\/p>\n

I like this high key look of these images, the snow on the bill and plumage of the magpie and how just a bit of the iridescent blues and greens add a tiny bit of color to images that are otherwise black and white.<\/p>\n

The rest of my images from yesterday didn’t impress me much but I am quite fond of these.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Black-billed Magpie photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first bird I raised my lens for yesterday was this Black-billed Magpie in a snowstorm near the visitor center. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,245,1022,26],"tags":[4004,1813,4142,1123,156,6005,4842,4167,4046,4050,4900,4899,4328,4813,373],"class_list":["post-35174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-black-billed-magpies","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-black-billed-magpie","tag-close-up","tag-high-key-2","tag-low-light-2","tag-magpie","tag-magpies","tag-pica-hudsonia","tag-portrait","tag-snow","tag-snowflakes","tag-snowstorm","tag-snowy","tag-whiteout","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-billed-magpie-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-9893.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-99k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35140,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/28\/portraits-of-an-adult-black-billed-magpie\/","url_meta":{"origin":35174,"position":0},"title":"Portraits Of An Adult Black-billed Magpie","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I only have a few portraits of an adult Black-billed Magpie and yesterday I was able to add several of them to my portfolio.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Portrait of an adult Black-billed Magpie photographed on Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-portrait-adult-mia-mcpherson-9053.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-portrait-adult-mia-mcpherson-9053.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-portrait-adult-mia-mcpherson-9053.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-portrait-adult-mia-mcpherson-9053.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":121645,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/20\/black-billed-magpie-with-nesting-materials\/","url_meta":{"origin":35174,"position":1},"title":"Black-billed Magpie With Nesting Materials","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It was my first full spring in Utah, nearly 14 years ago, when my keen eyes were used to find my first Black-billed Magpie nest on Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-billed Magpie in flight with nesting material for its nest, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/black-billed-magpie-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-7510.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/black-billed-magpie-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-7510.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/black-billed-magpie-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-7510.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/black-billed-magpie-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-7510.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97171,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/09\/immature-black-billed-magpie-portrait-at-sunrise\/","url_meta":{"origin":35174,"position":2},"title":"Immature Black-billed Magpie Portrait At Sunrise","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I was looking through my archives yesterday when I came across this immature Black-billed Magpie portrait taken at sunrise on Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Black-billed Magpie portrait at sunrise, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/black-billed-magpie-immature-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3293.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/black-billed-magpie-immature-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3293.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/black-billed-magpie-immature-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3293.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/black-billed-magpie-immature-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3293.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":82221,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/25\/black-billed-magpie-with-nesting-material\/","url_meta":{"origin":35174,"position":3},"title":"Black-billed Magpie With Nesting Material","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It is Black-billed Magpie nesting season on Antelope Island State Park and throughout their breeding range in western North America.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Black-billed Magpie with nesting material, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black-billed-magpie-adult-nesting-mia-mcpherson-0608.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black-billed-magpie-adult-nesting-mia-mcpherson-0608.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black-billed-magpie-adult-nesting-mia-mcpherson-0608.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black-billed-magpie-adult-nesting-mia-mcpherson-0608.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56819,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/25\/resting-black-billed-magpie-close-up-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":35174,"position":4},"title":"Resting Black-billed Magpie Close Up On Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Resting Black-billed Magpie close up, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-close-up-spring-mia-mcpherson-8718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-close-up-spring-mia-mcpherson-8718.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-close-up-spring-mia-mcpherson-8718.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-close-up-spring-mia-mcpherson-8718.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63432,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/27\/black-billed-magpie-portrait-in-whiteout-conditions\/","url_meta":{"origin":35174,"position":5},"title":"Black-billed Magpie Portrait In Whiteout Conditions","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I seem to be on a high key bird photo kick this month so I thought I would add one more of a Black-billed Magpie I photographed in a winter whiteout just a few days shy of four years ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-billed Magpie portrait in a winter whiteout, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-billed-mapgie-portrait-white-out-mia-mcpherson-9821.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-billed-mapgie-portrait-white-out-mia-mcpherson-9821.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-billed-mapgie-portrait-white-out-mia-mcpherson-9821.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-billed-mapgie-portrait-white-out-mia-mcpherson-9821.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}