A MISCHIEF OF MAGPIES Bud Lehnhausen Winter scene featuring eight species

Winter scene featuring eight species of birds that live year-round in the boreal forest of interior Alaska where daylight lasts just a few hours each day and winter temperatures often drop below -40° F

acrylic on canvas by Susan E

and a few remaining columbines and prairie coneflowers add other yellows to the scene

chocolate flowers

and find enough food to thrive in these harsh environments

A MISCHIEF OF MAGPIES Bud Lehnhausen Winter scene featuring eight speciesSeven magpies gathered around a fallen tree on a Colorado hillside along the front range of the Rocky Mountains. A gathering of magpies is poetically called a "mischief" of magpies, which seems an apt description for these intelligent and curious birds. I see flocks of them most often in fall after their young have fledged and always wonder what sort of mischief they are up to. I saw this group puttering around Lory State Park near Fort Collins,