Novasola Magpie
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For more information about native corvids, see this post.
Novasola Magpie,
Pica novasolensis L 45-70 cm, WS 55-60 cm,
Family: Corvidae
IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)
Description:
Large
songbird, almost crow-sized, with a stout body, wide and rounded wings, heavy
bill, and extremely long, diamond shaped tail. Bodies black and white overall,
with black head and back and white undersides and “backstraps”. Wings and tail
iridescent blue-green. Obvious, large white patches in wings flash in flight. Nearly
identical to the closely related Black-billed Magpie, but for variable patches
of bare, white skin around eyes and bill.
Voice:
Extremely
vocal, primary sounds consist of harsh chatter and ascending, raspy calls. Other
call types include a soft, bubbling warble usually given by males, and a
monotone wock wock wock. Can sound similar to Burnside Jays, but often
deeper and more resonant.
Range and Habitat:
Common
east of the mountain divide, especially in the interior prairie, but can be
found in the Twin River Valley and on East Francis Island. Magpies prefer open
habitats like grassland, scrub, oak savannah, chapparal, dry juniper, and
post-burn sites and forest edges, as well as suburban greenery. Though most
common in shrub and grasslands, they can still be found in sparse forests and
are more likely to use forested ecosystems than the Black-billed Magpie of
mainland North America. Historic range thought not to extend past the
Paramounts, but human development has allowed them to spread westward.
Discussion:
One
of the most striking and well-known birds of eastern Novasola, the large and
flashy Novasola Magpie is an unmistakable hallmark of the island’s more arid
and open regions. A bold collection of black, white, blue, and green, the
magpie’s plumage is as conspicuous as its long tail and raucous vocalizations.
They often perch atop fenceposts, road signs, exposed treetops, and even the
backs of cattle, and congregate in large flocks, especially near carrion or
reliable food sources like dumpsters and picnic areas. With slow, heavy
wingbeats and a swooping flight, they can be instantly recognized even from moving vehicles.
Like
other corvids, the Novasola Magpie’s diet is quite varied. Magpies will browse
for grains, seeds, and fruits, as well as invertebrates like grasshoppers,
beetles, moths, and dragonflies, usually foraging along the ground. Carrion
makes up a large portion of their diets, and magpies are frequently observed
along roads and highways searching for roadkill, while carcasses can attract
large numbers of magpies. Magpies are also often observed picking ticks and
other parasites off large grazing animals like elk, moose, bison, or cattle,
which they do while perched atop the animal’s back. Intelligent birds, magpies
are experts in finding new and novel food sources, especially in urban or
developed areas, where they often get into dumpsters, trash bins, and gardens,
and they have been known to steal food from humans, going so far as taking food
right out of a person’s hand while flying past. They will follow predators,
including human hunters, expecting to steal from any fresh kill. Also like
other corvids, magpies will cache food for later, though this behavior is less
frequent than in jays.
Novasola Magpies are generally social and can be seen alone or in groups of up to thirty
individuals. In areas with abundant food supplies or near carcasses, there may
be twice as many. Flocks often work together to find food or fend off predators
like coyotes or raptors. Magpies mate for life, and males will defend their
mate from other unpaired males, though extra-pair copulation does occur. Both
parents help in building their nest, a large domed structure, and in incubation
and chick rearing. One curious social behavior often observed in magpies (and
to a lesser degree in other corvids, especially crows and ravens) is a “funeral”,
where if a magpie discovers a dead magpie, it will call loudly to attract other
magpies or its flock, which then do the same, until tens of birds, sometimes up
to forty or fifty individuals, congregate and inspect and squawk around the
carcass for about ten to twenty minutes. Scientists are still unsure of the
purpose of this behavior.
Infamous
across Novasola, the magpie is culturally important to many indigenous groups
on the island. The Kuliquit name for the bird is ts'eeçéeni and the
Yukandaluk term is qalqagayak. To prairie tribes especially the bird is
spiritually significant. Qalqagayak is a crucial and central figure in
Yukandaluk mythology, seen as a trickster figure, whose character is in many
ways similar to that of Raven in coastal tribes, and in prairie tribes serves
as a sort of foil to Raven. According to some stories Qalqagayak is responsible
for the creation of the world, the moon, fire, and human beings. In other
stories, Qalqagayak created the afterlife and functions as a psychopomp. He is
sometimes good, sometimes evil, and never to be trusted. Hunting parties would
often use qalqagayak flocks to find elk or bison herds, and qalqagayak feathers
as ornaments in ceremonies and rituals. To many native peoples, Novasola Magpies are as critical to their cultural expression as ravens, eagles, or
salmon.
Common
to the island’s lowlands, Novasola Magpies are among the few native birds to
expand their range and increase in population since European colonization. The
clearing of forests for agriculture and the introduction of herd animals like
sheep and cattle may have had devastating effects to many endemic animals, but
magpies, with their intelligence and generalist nature, have mostly benefitted.
Novasola Magpies have been strongly associated with human settlement for as
long as we have records, and well before according to oral tradition. They have
scavenged the food scraps left behind by prairie tribes for centuries, and there
are numerous records of magpies following and stealing from NRC members during
the first two expeditions.
“The
camp is nicely situated atop a knoll overlooking the bend to the west and the vast
stretch of grass and sage to the east wherefrom sunrise tomorrow will stain the
world orange. Mr. Peterson, having returned from a scouting party, saw a herd
of elk just over the next rise, and Captain Dyer assured us we are in friendly
country.
But
this may be too simplified a view. Safe we may be from natives and well-mapped
this stretch may seem, enemies of a sort abound. At least, that is, if you were
a Mr. Jackson. Once again the avian fauna here targets him. Tonight his supper
of salted venison was stolen from his very hands by a particularly bold and
swift Magpie, which Mr. Jackson had hardly the time to comprehend before his
irritation got the better of him and he stormed off to his tent. Two other
magpies, no doubt having observed the incident and registered the man as an
easy target, later entered Mr. Jackson’s tent. I observed in amused silence as Jackson,
in his natural state of deep sleep, was unaware that the two birds were now
pecking hard tack left out atop his bag in carelessness.” – Expedition log, May
15, 1902
“Besieged!
Should a man have asked me, as many I admit had, to predict which dooms might befall
me while here in the Yooladacks, I would never have thought to list the birds. The
weather, surely, an early winter certainly, Indian war parties or hungry lions,
but not the damned birds! Arrogance and ignorance are mine to be punished. It seems
that this winter has taken all creatures by surprise, and with the heavy
blizzard all must resort to desperation. This morning I have been accosted by a
flock of Magpies, which took nearly a half hour to fend away. Upon my uncooperative
fit, the Magpies began pestering my horse, whose sores must have at first
attracted them. Picking at the horse’s wounds and scabs for any morsel of meat,
my only choice was to fire my shotgun, scaring off the birds but wasting
valuable shot.” – Personal diary of Samuel Waits, prospector, 1889
“In
size and in nature much like the crow. Walks along the ground in wide strides, with
tail elevated, or may at times hop like a sparrow. Like the Burnside Jay, the
Magpie has a playful and buoyant personality.” – Manual of Novasolan Birds,
1914
“And
so Raven created the sun. His brother, Magpie, jealous of splendor of Raven’s
sun, wanted his own. So Magpie went back to the river and transformed himself
into a sage leaf just as the daughter was scooping water into a jug. The leaf flowed
into the jug and was drank by the daughter, just as Raven had done, and just as
Raven had done Magpie transformed once inside the daughter into a baby. When
she gave birth a second time, she and the old man raised the baby in much the
same way as they had with Raven. But having learned from Raven’s trickery, the
old man never allowed Magpie to touch his treasure box. So instead, Magpie
waited until the old man grew even older, and eventually the man went blind.
Now that he couldn’t see Magpie and stop him, Magpie ripped open the box and
grabbed the light. Because Raven had already taken most of the light to make
the sun, the remaining light in the box was small and dim. Nevertheless, Magpie
transformed back into bird form and took the light in his beak and flew off. He
placed his light in the darkness of the night sky, and so created the moon.” –
Traditional Yukandaluk creation myth story, as told by Joseph Black Wolf in Mythology
of Novasolan Native Tribes, 1989