*Possible* magpies, Lapeer County, May 2, 2004

[Caleb Putnam]

Listers-

My dad, who lives in Lapeer, just called (May 2, 2004) and told me he thinks 
he just saw 2 magpies while driving on I-69 between Lapeer and Elba (western 
Lapeer County), first while driving westbound at about 4:30 PM, then again 
going eastbound around 7:30PM, at the exact same spot.  He was not 100% sure 
of his identification since both times he was going 70 mph and could not 
stop.  But, he has seen magpies many times out west, and the birds 
immediately stood out as odd, and he noted the striking black and white 
pattern in flight and large (~crow) size of the birds.  After talking with 
him, I think the birds are probably magpies.

The location is near mile marker 149, slightly east of the marker.  This is 
about ¼ to ½ mile west of the Golf Road bridge (Delorme Atlas page 51), 
which doesn’t have access ramps to I-69.  There is probably no way to stop 
at the spot of the sighting short of pulling off the interstate, and this 
would be dangerous.  You could try scanning from the Golf Rd bridge (bring a 
scope), or another spot would be the fields on the south side of Genessee 
Rd, about ¼ to ½ mile west of Golf Rd.  Use the Elba Rd exit- you cannot 
access Genessee Rd from the Lake Nepessing exit b/c a bridge is out.

At 4:30 the 2 birds were walking together in the median of I-69, and they 
both took flight as he passed by at 70 mph.  At 7:30 he saw 1 bird in flight 
flying north toward a woodland patch.

I cannot get down tomorrow, so please update the list immediately if you are 
able to verify these birds.

Good luck,
Caleb Putnam

Caleb G Putnam
Kalkaska, MI
larus10 at hotmail.com

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