Black-billed Magpie
Pica hudsonia

Conservation status | In early part of 20th century, many were killed as pests or poisoned by baits set out for predators. In spite of this, remains common and widespread. |
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Family | Crows, Magpies, Jays |
Habitat | Rangeland, conifers, streamsides, forest edges, farms. Found in many kinds of semi-open country in the west. Avoids unbroken forest, and not found in treeless grasslands or extreme desert situations. Most common in streamside groves of trees in open terrain, farm country, and some suburban areas. |
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Feeding Behavior
Forages mostly by walking on ground; may use bill to flip over items in search of food. Sometimes steals food from other birds, and supposedly may follow predators at times to pick up scraps that they leave. May take ticks from the backs of elk and other animals.
Eggs
6-7, sometimes 5-9, rarely more. Greenish gray, heavily spotted with brown. Incubation is by female, 16-21 days, usually about 18. Male feeds female during egg-laying and incubation period. Young: Both parents bring food to nestlings. Young leave nest about 25-29 days after hatching. 1 brood per year.
Young
Both parents bring food to nestlings. Young leave nest about 25-29 days after hatching. 1 brood per year.
Diet
Omnivorous. Diet is quite varied, but feeds on insects more consistently than most members of the crow family; eats many grasshoppers, caterpillars, flies, beetles, and others. Also eats carrion, rodents, eggs and young of other birds, sometimes small snakes. Vegetable matter such as berries, seeds, and nuts may be eaten more in winter.
Nesting
Often nests in small loose colonies. In courtship, males pursue females, often flashing their white wing patches. Nest site is among the branches of tree or large shrub (generally deciduous), 5-60' above the ground, usually 15-30' up. Nest is a huge structure, a big globular canopy of sticks about 3' in diameter, with entrance holes on either side. Inside the canopy is a cup-shaped nest with base of mud or manure and lining of weeds, rootlets, grass, and hair. Both sexes help build nest.
Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
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Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
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Migration
Mostly permanent resident. Some upslope movement in fall, and a few birds move southward or downslope in winter. Individuals rarely wander well to east of breeding range.

- All Seasons - Common
- All Seasons - Uncommon
- Breeding - Common
- Breeding - Uncommon
- Winter - Common
- Winter - Uncommon
- Migration - Common
- Migration - Uncommon
See a fully interactive migration map for over 450 bird species on the Bird Migration Explorer.
Learn moreSongs and Calls
A rapid, nasal mag? mag? mag? or yak yak yak.Learn more about this sound collection.
How Climate Change Will Reshape the Range of the Black-billed Magpie
Audubon’s scientists have used 140 million bird observations and sophisticated climate models to project how climate change will affect this bird’s range in the future.
Zoom in to see how this species’s current range will shift, expand, and contract under increased global temperatures.
Climate threats facing the Black-billed Magpie
Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases. The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too.