welcome, friend

I guess you could say I'm an "animal guy," and always have been. When I was a kid I had reptiles as pets and one of the coolest places in Southern California was the Hermosa Beach Reptile Farm. In those days, trade in exotic animals was unfortunately not well regulated and so in addition to a huge variety of snakes and lizards, you could run into a sloth or a slow loris for sale. Impractical and probably not at all pet material but interesting anyway. A little later--in college--I acquired a blue-front Amazon parrot and now, 30 years later, and the house is filled with dogs, cats, lizards, rats, and parrots large and small.

A couple of days ago this little guy--a black-billed magpie--landed outside our bedroom window and looked inside with a great deal of interest and curiosity. So, naturally, I went outside and offered him a tasty treat--a few superworms that I keep as bearded dragon food. This magpie--whom my wife named Oreo--has become friendlier and friendlier over the past few days, now following me around the yard and alighting on my hand and shoulder to eat. I can't help but wonder if he was partly hand-raised by people, he's so naturally tame and fearless. He's amazingly smart, too, taking extra worms and burying them in the yard for later consumption. He even uses twigs to tamp down the pile of camouflage.

We love our pets, but in all cases, we chose them. This magpie chose us--we were easy marks for food, no doubt--and that makes him sort of special. So, welcome, Oreo and hope you stick around for a while.