Your guess is as good as mine on this one, but it is certainly interesting to see a magpie getting cozy with a mule deer. This photo was taken from about a quarter mile away as I was parked on Idaho 21. The two mule deer were bedded down, and the magpie hopped over to each one and parked itself on their backs. They didn’t seem to mind. Both looked pretty healthy and content sitting in the snow. And the magpie didn’t seem to be picking at them. It reminded me of a photo submitted for the Idaho Outdoors photo contest that showed two magpies on a bighorn ram. The magpies could be picking ticks or mites or some kind of parasites off the animals, but that’s just a theory. Anybody want to venture a guess?
Roger Phillips / rphillips@idahostatesman.com