Re: Barbara & a Magpie

One drizzly, cold morning, while camping near Rocky Mtn. Nat. Park, our 4-year old was sitting patiently at the picnic table waiting for his Mom to serve up pancakes she had prepared in a griddle over a campfire. He had his hoodie pulled over his head to ward off the rain and cold. After what probably seemed to him like forever, Mom finally plopped a steaming pancake onto his plate. A Magpie swooped down from a sheltering pine tree, landed on top of the hoodie, reached down and snatched the pancake right off of his plate, and carried back up into the tree. Talk about a wide-eyed little kid... That was my first introduction to Magpies, which I later found to be amusing, raucous, aggressive while nesting, and generally obnoxious buffoons.

Ed Frey
Loveland, CO