I had a robin choose to make her nest near me, earlier this spring. It was so much fun to watch her check me out and decide to make her neat above where I had been sitting daily. There are magoiesbthat have lived here for a few years, and I'd been planning to make friends with them this year - but when the robins caught my attention, I decided to leave the magpie adventure for another time. This morning, one of the magpies were playing on my doorstep and I was reminded of this goal. I'd love to hear from someone who has made friends with their corvid neighbors. I'm especially curious: do they respond well to requests for their photo? Since I began this practice, I've had some animals that tell me no pics in a very clear way, and others that seem excited to play with the camera, like the ospreys last week. I'm guessing I'm not the only one with this experience? Any chance that someone reading this has advice for asking magpies for consent to take their pics? Or even generally conversing with them? I'd love any info anyone wants to share. I only figured out a few months ago that this "game in my head" about talking to critters was actually real, and that there's some level of mutual understanding that comes from honest attempts to communicate. So now I'm curious what the things I don't yet know are. (And if you haven't tried this magic yet, next time a wasp or bee is interested in you, ask them "please leave me alone" or something like it, out loud. It works reliably for me.) #Magpies #Corvids #BirdFriends