Final round! Let's go Magpie!

https://www.birdfriendlyedmonton.org/city-bird-vote-final-round.html
Related:
Taproot Edmonton: Magpie, chickadee, and blue jay battle to be Edmonton’s City Bird
https://edmonton.taproot.news/briefs/2025/01/13/magpie-chickadee-and-blue-jay-battle-to-be-edmontons-city-bird
Final round! Let's go Magpie!

https://www.birdfriendlyedmonton.org/city-bird-vote-final-round.html
"Help us choose a bird to represent our city, raise awareness about how important urban wildlife and biodiversity is, and to celebrate Edmonton's birds! The Bird Friendly Team consulted hundreds of local naturalists and members of the public to narrow the list of candidates down to six great choices. These birds are all found in many Edmonton neighbourhoods and natural areas throughout the year."
The daily visits have stopped, but yesterday the male came by… not everyone gets to have a Dachente (roof duck)
We have started getting regular visits from a pair of Mallards… sometimes they sit on the roof - which is pretty funny - sometimes they just graze and hang out in the yard.
Update: having read up on mallard nesting habits, it seems likely they have a nest nearby and that the female is currently laying. During laying they lay one egg a day and otherwise leave the nest unattended. Once they start incubating the whole clutch hatches together in 28 days.
OK Edmonton… is it just me or is the usual population of birds significantly down this spring?
Looked out and saw a lone sparrow today; I can’t recall ever seeing a lone sparrow here. In previous years they roosted by the dozens in our and our neighbour’s cedars, this year - nothing.
Never mind all the other smaller birds: seeing no or very few chickadees, nuthatches, juncos, finches…
Am I being impatient?
Have they simply shifted somewhere else?
Or is this a thing?
So if every call by a gull really just says “Mine!”, what is every call from a magpie?
(After seeing the movie, that is all I hear now from gulls.)
Was just outside and “Why?” seems a good guess. Your word?