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** News of the world environment
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NEWSLETTER | AUGUST 27, 2021
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** Beyond Borders
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For the past few mornings, a magpie has greeted me at my door, flitting around on the driveway between the house and a grove of birch. Each time, I have a few seconds to watch the bird closely — his black feathers tinged with a subtle blue-green, beady, crow-like eyes scanning the ground, long plumy tail — before my dog, a pointer, takes notice and charges. The magpie flushes back into the trees, letting out a brassy laugh that sounds like a miniature trumpet.

I read recently in Up Here ([link removed]) magazine that black-billed magpies (Pica hudsonia) are relative newcomers to the North. They weren’t common above the 60th parallel until the 1990s, and if you trust the bird’s range map on field guides from Audubon ([link removed]) or the Cornell Lab of Ornithology ([link removed]) , you wouldn’t expect to see them anywhere in the Northwest Territories.

Yet here they are. Magpies are opportunistic and known to live in close proximity to people — and have been shown to strike up friendships with us ([link removed]) . The Lewis and Clark journals are full of descriptions of them. They were often caught looting food from the expedition’s tents. In the North, magpies are now commonly spotted at Kam Lake near Yellowknife, a popular dog mushing spot, where they scavenge spilled kibble.

In 2006, residents of a community in Nunavut were surprised to see magpies picking through caribou meat on the tundra. A CBC article ([link removed]) on the incident pointed to climate change. Fewer days of extreme cold in the winter, and the birds were moving in. The article also mentions the magpie’s gloomy perception in European folklore: “Generally speaking, the bird is associated with unhappiness and trouble.” As a bioindicator of an increasingly warming Arctic, that may be the case.

Does that make the magpie on my driveway a sinister omen or a friend? Most likely neither. He’s not as sinister as the oil drillers who continue to tear up landscapes and emit exorbitant amounts of greenhouse gases. His raucous laughter tells me he’s not here for friendship either. He’s just a forager collecting mud and sticks for a nest, unaware of which borders he's crossed along the way. Either way, I’ll keep a lookout for him each morning.

Austin Price
Contributing Editor, Earth Island Journal

Photo by: Eric Kilby ([link removed])
TOP STORIES ()
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** Short(er) Answer ([link removed])
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For 16 years, the pueblo of Temacapulín has put up a fierce fight against the multimillion dollar El Zapotillo mega-dam project that would flood the village and two others in rural Jalisco state. Now the Mexican president is offering them a compromise.
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** YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE! ([link removed])
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Earth Island Journal is a nonprofit publication. Our mission is to inform and inspire action. Which is why we rely on readers like you for support. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our Green Journalism Fund ([link removed]) .
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** Dispersants Under Scrutiny ([link removed])
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In a big win for activists, a federal court has ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency to update its regulations on the use of toxic chemical dispersants to clean up oil spills.
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** The Science of Sheep ([link removed])
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Sometimes, they make nodding off easier. Now they are helping with science as well. In New Mexico, bighorn sheep are helping biologists field test an exciting new wildlife survey methodology.
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ICYMI ()
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** Food that Binds ([link removed])
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“Traditional filé can bind individuals to heritage in a world that often seeks to eradicate or cheapen that link for the sake of a profit.” A great read on the effort to save a key gumbo ingredient from cultural and environmental erasure.

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** A Safe Pack ([link removed])
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Some good news! The Lassen Pack has survived the Dixie Fire. Even better news — the pack’s survival “illustrates how even when wildfires burn through a large area …[much] wildlife finds a way to survive.”

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