Magpies are an interesting lot. If you have them near where you live, you probably feel as I often do--they are several rungs from the top of the carrion-eating ladder. And while that is not entirely inaccurate, they perform the thankless task of cleaning the earth of deceased wild animals and road kill. And you have to admit, they do so with a little bit of style, even if they do wait for the eagles and vultures to have first shot at the carrion:
200mm, 1/400th of a second, f/5.6, ISO 200.
I typically think of Magpies as starkly colored in black-and-white. But if you see them in the right light, you find that their plumage is a bit more colorful, almost like an azure blue and green cummerbund. When do you suppose cummerbunds will hit the scene again? When they do, the Magpies just might get the respect they deserve.
PS--DD suggests that most of the feathers of a magpie are iridescent and so this is more like a cloak than a cummerbund. But I wanted to use the word cummerbund because it makes me laugh.
Point well taken! They are beautiful,if only they weren't so obnoxious!
Posted by: emptynest | April 06, 2009 at 09:46 PM