This is a really solid piece! Good job on it! I like the looping in of the magpies with your mother's appearance, because it gives the piece a resonance that I think it would lack otherwise.

That's what brings me to say that I think the likeness between the magpie's death and your mother's absence needs to be strengthened a little. As it is the readers see the images, alive magpie, mother, dead magpie, and can make the abstract connection between the two things, but what exact direction the reader is supposed to take from that is still unclear. I think what's missing is in what WAY we are supposed to connect mother/magpie. The child-like confusion at the situation comes through wonderfully, but I think a few more emotional signposts would really improve the reader's understanding of the piece.

I also think a few more details about home life without Mother would help hit her absence home. How it was different to have her gone; how your brothers, father, sisters were different without her, and if they noticed her short return, how they reacted to that. Non-fiction can be really tricky with stuff like this, because it depends on your memories, and those can sometimes be muzzy. My non-fiction teacher said something about not worrying about things like exact wording if you can't track that down, but staying true to the spirit of conversations/ events. I think that would apply here.

One aesthetic thing: the first few lines come off a bit harsh, and as much as I think the information there is necessary, it would do better to be introduced in a less "Detective Noir" kind of way. I think it messes with the tone of the rest of the piece in an awkward way.

This piece left me holding my breath a bit, and overall I really liked it. Keep up the good work!