{"id":56819,"date":"2019-03-25T05:30:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T11:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=56819"},"modified":"2025-08-07T09:02:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T14:02:54","slug":"resting-black-billed-magpie-close-up-on-antelope-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/25\/resting-black-billed-magpie-close-up-on-antelope-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Resting Black-billed Magpie Close Up On Antelope Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RestingResting Black-billed Magpie close up – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_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":[4004,1813,4142,3194,6005,4842,4167,4046,4156,165],"class_list":["post-56819","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-corvids","tag-magpie","tag-magpies","tag-pica-hudsonia","tag-portrait","tag-resting","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-close-up-spring-mia-mcpherson-8718.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eMr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":121645,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/20\/black-billed-magpie-with-nesting-materials\/","url_meta":{"origin":56819,"position":0},"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":65764,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/28\/ten-years-of-photographing-nesting-black-billed-magpies-at-the-same-nest\/","url_meta":{"origin":56819,"position":1},"title":"Ten Years Of Photographing Nesting Black-billed Magpies At The Same Nest","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I am more than thrilled to once again observe and photograph nesting Black-billed Magpies using the same greasewood where I first photographed them almost ten 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":"Adult Black-billed Magpie lifting off from a bush with nesting material, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, 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Ballet","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I know I am looking forward to photographing and watching the Black-billed Magpie nest building ballet that occurs each spring.","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 landing with nesting material, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-2604.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-nesting-material-mia-mcpherson-2604.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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 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9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I felt that I had a real treat being able to photograph this Black-billed Magpie building a nest after a snow.","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 building a nest after a snow in Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-nest-building-mia-mcpherson-8186.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-nest-building-mia-mcpherson-8186.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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