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Gwitawo'yo is the Northern/Eastern Shoshoni name for the Black-billed Magpie.
Since I started the year in Northern Utah, this was the first bird I saw and heard to start 2026, and I want to honor it with a name from those who knew it before it was "discovered" or scientifically described by Joseph Sabine in 1823.
While I haven't found any Gwitawo'yo tales from the Northern or Eastern Shoshone yet, here is a fun one from their more southern Timbisha Shoshone cousins, where magpies win a race against Coyote.
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| Photo by Polinova (CC BY-SA 4.0) |
