While magpies can sometimes be considered a bit obnoxious in their behavior, harassing other animals for a meal, or simply for enjoyment (I have witnessed over 20 birds terrorizing a pine martin, seeming out of spite as there were no nests being threatened), they provide an interesting “service” to the larger ungulates in the day-today life in the wild. They can often be seen atop all manner of the larger mammals doing a bit of foraging and helping the larger species in the way of removing ticks.

Even in the dead of winter, we have a species, known appropriately as winter ticks, that infest all manner of the deer family, and the magpies are quite handy in going after these tiny, and sometimes deadly pests in their search for a meal. I say deadly, as the ticks are incredibly uncomfortable for the animals, causing them to scratch incessantly, which removes vital layers of hair as well as creating scratches and bleeding that cause infections which can deplete an animals already limited energy reserves in a critical season of survival.

I have often seen small groups of magpies servicing the mule deer clan that inhabits the Sunnyside neighborhood, and the scene has always reminded me of a bit of a spa day for the does and youngsters as the birds hop from one deer to another, pausing from time to time as though chatting with the deer about the most recent gossip in nature’s neighborhood.

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