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 Black-billed
MagpieThe Black-billed Magpie is a large black and white bird with a long tail and dark bill. The bill, head, breast and underparts are black with green iridescence on its wings and tail. It has a white belly, shoulders and its wing primaries are conspicuous as white wing patches in flight. The Black-billed Magpie's call is a rapid, nasal mag? mag? mag? or yak yak yak. The Black-billed Magpie forages mainly on the ground, sometimes in trees or shrubs, for insects, especially grasshoppers. It also eats snails, slugs, millipedes, spiders, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, young birds and eggs, small mammals, carrion and fruit. The Black-billed Magpie builds a bulky stick nest from a few feet to 25 feet above the ground in a variety of trees or tall bushes, especially thorny ones. It nests in small, scattered colonies along streams, in woods or in thickets but less often on buildings, cliff ledges, high banks or on the ground among bushy cover. It sometimes reuses the old nest but usually builds a new nest each year. The Black-billed Magpie is a year-round resident from Alaska and western Canada south to east-central California and east to the Great Plains. It prefers open woodlands, savannas, brush-covered country and streamside growth. Black-billed Magpie Range Map |
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