{"id":97171,"date":"2021-11-09T05:52:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T12:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=97171"},"modified":"2021-11-09T05:52:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T12:52:48","slug":"immature-black-billed-magpie-portrait-at-sunrise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/09\/immature-black-billed-magpie-portrait-at-sunrise\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Black-billed Magpie Portrait At Sunrise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature Black-billed Magpie portrait at sunrise \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/500, ISO 500, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/a>. I loved the warm glow from the sun on the features in the background, the light in the eye of the magpie, and the wonderful details in the feathers of this young bird.<\/p>\n

You might wonder how I know that this is an immature Black-billed Magpie when viewing this photo. It is all in the eyes. Adult Black-billed Magpies have dark eyes. Most of the time I can’t see where the irises end and the pupils begin they are so dark. Immature Black-billed Magpies have bluish-gray irises and that can be seen in this photo. Hatch year birds start to get darker irises by December. This Black-billed Magpie portrait was taken in November of 2016.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found that people either hate Black-billed Magpies or love them. I am in the love them camp. I enjoy photographing magpies year round here in northern Utah but my favorite time of the year to photograph them is when they start building their nests in late winter into early spring. It can take as long as 50 days for Black-billed Magpies to build their dome-shaped nests which means I can have many opportunities to photograph them from a respectful distance as they fly in and away from their nests.<\/p>\n

I also think it is a real treat to listen to these magpies communicate with each other through their calls<\/span><\/a>. It would be thrilling to understand “magpie” and to know what they are saying to one another when I am in the field with them.<\/p>\n

I felt fortunate to take this portrait of the young Black-billed Magpie. It was very chilly at sunrise that morning and the bird was stickier than it may have normally been.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97168,"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":[970,1813,4142,3194,11978,4620,5381,4067,3897,6005,4842,4167,4046,4190,4193],"class_list":["post-97171","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-autumn","tag-black-billed-magpie","tag-close-up","tag-corvids","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-hatch-year","tag-immature","tag-iris","tag-magpie","tag-magpies","tag-pica-hudsonia","tag-portrait","tag-sunrise","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/black-billed-magpie-immature-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3293.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-phh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36979,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/10\/an-immature-black-billed-magpie-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":97171,"position":0},"title":"An Immature Black-billed Magpie in Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this immature Black-billed Magpie in flight last September on Antelope Island State Park as it flew over a rabbitbrush that was just about to bloom.","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 in flight, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/black-billed-magpie-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-3642.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/black-billed-magpie-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-3642.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/black-billed-magpie-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-3642.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/black-billed-magpie-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-3642.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2514,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/06\/13\/black-billed-magpie-juveniles\/","url_meta":{"origin":97171,"position":1},"title":"Black-billed Magpie Juveniles","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Adults have black eyes, the Black-billed Magpie juveniles have blue, gray or even violet eyes.","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 a Black-billed Magpie juvenile. 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plumage including young Black-billed Magpies.","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":"Juvenile Black-billed Magpie, Antelope Island State Park, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/black-billed-magpie-young-mia-mcpherson-5264.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/black-billed-magpie-young-mia-mcpherson-5264.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/black-billed-magpie-young-mia-mcpherson-5264.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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