Friday, November 5, 2010

Strike A Pose.

Yesterday morning I got off the bus in front of the Sturdy Stone Centre on 3rd Avenue.  I spotted a magpie on one of the nearby trees, so out came the camera in the hope of catching a shot.

midtown magpie

Imagine my surprise when instead of flying away before I could take a photo, as birds often do, he actually flew closer to me, landing in one of the planters.  He started to root around for tidbits.

midtown magpie 2

My close presence seemed to make no difference to him.  In fact it was almost as if he decided to let me have a good look.

midtown magpie 3

midtown magpie 4

Even the flash on my camera going off a couple of times didn't bother him in the least.

midtown magpie 5

midtown magpie 6

Soon it was time for both of us to move on.

The breed found in Saskatchewan is the Black-billed Magpie.  They're quite common in many areas of Saskatoon.  As often seems to be the case with birds the ones downtown, like this one, are quite tame.  The ones I see in more suburban areas of Saskatoon seem to be less so.