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Re: Magpie??



On Wed, 17 Jan 2001, Russ Palmeri wrote:
> 
> While driving home up Cedar Mountain Road (Butler Mountain, outside 
> Asheville) my wife and I had a BRIEF glimpse of a crow-sized bird who 
> promptly left its tree and flew out of sight. It showed us white wing 
> patches on the TOP of the wings (so not a pileated woodpecker- we 
> have a pair that live up higher on the mountain, and of course they 
> look like crows but have a red head and a white patch on the 
> undersurface of the wings.)

Folks who haven't started ignoring my constant blabbering might remember 
that I saw a crow with at least one white wing patch at the edge of the 
Duke campus a month or three ago. I had a good enough look to note that 
the body and tail shape were short and stocky like a crow's, not long and 
thin like a magpie's. The bird was also flying in a flock of crows.

Here's what I know on the topic: birds which are black, are black because 
their feathers contain the pigment melanin. Melanin is metabolically very 
costly for a body to manufacture. Thus, these bird species are prone to 
form white spots if they are injured at some point during their 
development. Wings are a pretty likely place for a bird to get injured. 
Thus, crows and grackles with white wing patches are relatively common 
(relative to similar patchiness in other bird species). Does this agree 
with other folks' knowledge? There is at least one Great-tailed Grackle 
in the Austin, TX area which has been seen over the last few years, 
occasionally being reported as a magpie.

Of course, magpies are also one of the more popular bird pets other than 
parrots. Austin also has a real Black-billed Magpie in the neighborhood, 
which I believe the Texas records committee has ruled a probable escape. 
Or, it could be a wild vagrant. However, the tail should have been 
readily visible and not crow-like if it were a magpie.

Good birding,

Josh



Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/