Range – The large size Black-billed Magpie is abundant in the north-western quarter of the continent, from Alaska to the interior United States. It has adapted to suburbia, confidently strutting across front lawns locally.
Similar Species – Until recently, it was considered the same species as the Eurasian Magpie (P. pica), and even though they look nearly identical, scientific evidence points instead to a close relationship with the other North American magpie, the Yellow-billed Magpie.
Its long tail enables it to make rapid changes in direction in flight. The male uses his tail to display while courting a female. The Black-billed Magpie does not occur widely in eastern North America and is a biological mystery.
Voice – Black-billed magpie call is questioning, nasal ehnk; also raspy shenk, shenk, shenk, habitually in series. Black-billed Magpie is loud, flashy, and conspicuous. The differences in voice are just one further feature that distinguishes the two North American magpies from the European magpie.
Nesting – The nest is large, domed, and often made of thorny sticks. Their nests in streamside vegetation; persecution has made it wary and restricted to the wilderness in some areas, but in others, it has adapted to suburbs of towns and cities.
Eggs: The clutch contains 5 to 8 eggs. Thus only one brood in March–June.
Feeding – Omnivorous; forages on the ground, mainly for insects, worms, seeds, and carrion; even picks ticks from mammals.
Habitats – The black-billed Magpie is found in open habitats, foothills, and plains of the western United States and Canada. The magpie could at all times avoid heat stress by sitting in the tree shade, but when metabolic heat production had to be greater than before that selective pressure favored physiological adaptation to cold over heat. Therefore that heat stress is more limiting to this species than cold.
Territorial Defense – Black-billed Magpie show either no territorial defense or defend a relatively small area (about 0.3 ha) around their nest only during the breeding season. In spite of the proximity of neighboring pairs, territorial interactions are comparatively infrequent. Breeding birds forage mostly outside their territories, and typically as pairs. The foraging areas of neighboring pairs overlap and in some areas at least they forage in flocks at communal feeding areas in the same way as Yellow-billed Magpies.
Copulation – Pair copulations are infrequent in both species. Copulation attempts outside the pair bond though are recurrent, and paired males protect their paternity by mate guarding. Breeding pairs tend to roost either alone or together within their territory during the breeding season. At other times both breeders and non-breeders roost communally, sometimes in large groups. Magpies also form groups to mob likely predators.
Plumage – The magpie’s striking black and white plumage hardly require a detailed description. The black feathers of both species usually have a high gloss, appearing blue, purple, bronze, or green in different lighting conditions. In juvenile Eurasian and North American magpies there is often a bare patch of bluish-grey skin behind the eye.
Molt – The sequence of molts in black-billed magpie and European Magpies is apparently identical. As in almost all corvids, adult magpies undergo a single, yearly molt after breeding, and within not many weeks of fledging young birds undergo an incomplete post-juvenile molt.
This involves the replacement of the whole body plumage, but not the wing and tail feathers, which are replaced only when the birds are about twelve months old. The first full molt at the end of their first year more often than not starts about one month before that of older birds.
The pattern of molt and sequence of plumages in the Yellow-billed Magpie is similar to that of the Black-billed Magpie. Molt begins towards the end of the nestling period in late May, go on through the period of post-fledging care, and is finished by late September or October.
Breeding – The magpie specie are monogamous: male and female cooperate to rear young. Pairs now and then remain together for quite a lot of successive breeding seasons, but ‘divorce’ also occurs. Breeding magpies are amazingly inactive and rarely move more than one kilometer between years. Pairs are thought to form within the non-breeding flock.
Order – Passeriformes
Family – Corvidae
Species – Pica hudsonia
Length – 17–191⁄2 in (43–50cm)
Wingspan – Approximately 25 inches (63cm)
Weight – 6–7oz (185–200 grams)
Social – Often seen in a small flock of 4 to 5 birds
Lifespan – Up to 12-15 years
Status – Population is stable, hence it is considered a secure specie.
Flight – Black-billed magpie flight is direct, with slow, steady, and repeatedly shallow wing beats; infrequent shallow glides.
Iridescent Sheen – In bright sunlight, striking iridescent blues, greens, gold, and purple appear on the wings and tail.
