Nature Notes: Magpies roost at Sutherland Beach in Saskatoon

The species is sedentary, usually staying within a few kilometres of where it was raised. In winter, they can be social and gather in communal roosting sites, in thickets of trees.

A Saskatoon Nature Society member and regular visitor to the Sutherland Beach off-leash park recently noticed large numbers of magpies flying over in the evening. She passed this information to the observer for this area on the Christmas Bird Count, held on Dec. 27. From the parking lot on the day of the count, 768 magpies flew over between 4:10 and 5:18 p.m. , dwarfing the counts from the rest of the city.

A month later, another remarkable flight of 785 magpies was recorded from the same spot between 4:40 and 6:10 p.m. Sunset was at 5:44 p.m. that day. The flow peaked at 34 birds per minute, between five and 10 minutes after sunset. The birds did not approach the dog park from all directions, but rather preferred a route north along the treed west side of Preston Avenue and the adjacent field, having arrived there from Innovation Place and the west side of the river, crossing near the CPR railway bridge. On a later day, 44 were seen crossing the river north of Circle Drive Bridge, with another 15 flying south along the river valley.

This is probably not the first year magpies have been using Sutherland Beach as a roosting site, so it was a surprise for local birders that only now have they become aware of this daily mass movement. Birds are full of surprises and sometimes reveal their secrets — to those in the right place at the right time, who look up.This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatoon Nature Society.

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