They're magpies. Pica pica. Very common in Norway. One of my favorite birds to watch. You got some very good pictures! They never hold still for me.

Magpies? Thank you, Keera, I had no idea magpies were so pretty. They have a bad reputation in books I read as a kid, so I also pictured them as some kind of cross between a crow and a pigeon and an old shoe.

They are common many places besides Norway (didn't mean to imply they weren't), like to live near people but stay skeptical of us, and are considered the "gossip bird" because they are constantly making noise, even talking to themselves. Their range of sounds is quite impressive, from a soft, babbling chirp (which always charms me) to a screeching, staccato cat alarm (which is how I know to grab my camera and get pictures of the neighborhood's cats). They are a member of the crow family, will mimic other birds, love shiny objects, build huge nests with roofs by weaving twigs in and out (male and female both), they mate for life, and bully any magpie that is mateless. That iridescence in their black feathers will also sheen green, and they are beautiful in flight, too, sometimes doing swooping dives off buildings. There, now you know what I know. :-)