Characteristics
 The black-billed magpie is 17-21 inches in length. It has a black head, chest, back and tail and a white belly and shoulder patches. It has an extremely long, iridescent green tail and a thick, slightly curved black bill. It has white patches on its wings that can be seen when it is in flight. The magpie gets its name from its "mag, mag, mag" call. Males and females look alike.
RangeThe black-billed magpie can be found in the Western United States and Canada from southern Alaska to northern Alberta, central Manitoba, and western Ontario south to northeastern and east-central California and south-central Nevada, across to western and northeastern Oklahoma.
Habitat
 The black-billed magpie prefers open areas with short vegetation and patches of trees and bushes. It can be found in pastures, fields, grasslands, prairies, streamside thickets and forest edges. It can also be found up to timberline in mountainous areas.
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Diet
 The black-billed magpie is an omnivore. It usually forages on the ground or for insects. It also eats slugs, snails, millipedes, spiders, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, birds, eggs, carrion, seeds and fruit. The black-billed magpie will even land on large mammals like deer and moose and pick the ticks off them. Some of the ticks are eaten others are stored for later use!
Life Cycle
 During the fall and winter, males and females will form pairs, the pairs may mate for life. During courtship, the male will bring food to the female. Both the male and female build the nest, which can take as long as six weeks to construct. It has a mud bowl lined with grass and surrounded by a stick dome with two entrances. It is usually located a few feet to 25 feet above the ground in a tree or thorny bush. The female lays four to nine eggs and incubates them. The male will bring her food while she is incubating the eggs. The chicks hatch in 16-21 days and fledge when they are 25-29 days old. The male protects the nest and helps feed the chicks.
Behavior
The black-billed magpie is non-migratory, although it will sometimes wander into other areas during breeding season.
Image Credits: Clipart.com unless otherwise noted
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