I rescued a magpie the other day

Crows are covids. So are magpies which we have in abundance here. Being a large bird they tend to be noisy. They are also quite intelligent. One plays tag with my dog. The ither day a neighbour came over with a box with an injured magpie in it. I put the box in a large dog cage down in the basement and turned the lights out.

When I got home from work I went down to check on it. It was still in the box but when I moved the box it got out, squarked at me once, fluttered around a bit and got its wings caught in the top of the cage. I went to get heavy gloves but by the time I got back it was sitting on too of the box. I talked to it for a bit, asking if he wantrd to stay of go. I carried the cage upstairs, stopped in the living room for a picture then took him outside and opened the cage door. I had to coax him out. I figured if he was too week to fly I'd recage him and call animal control and maybe keep him. Apparently they make great pets and can learn to talk. However with a bit of coaxing he flew off, circled over the house then back towards where he was found.