Earth Notes: Magpies
Jul 15, 2026 · 2 min · 4 segments
Magpies have earned a bad rap as the bully in the birdyard—some even call them the birds everyone loves to hate.
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Jul 15, 2026 · 2 min · 4 segments
Magpies have earned a bad rap as the bully in the birdyard—some even call them the birds everyone loves to hate.
Some even call them the birds everyone loves to hate.
These conspicuous corvids are often considered a noisy nuisance, getting into trash, going after crops, preying on other animals, and sometimes hassling people.
The black-billed magpie is widespread in the Intermountain West and is fairly easy to identify.
They're dressed in striking black and white, with iridescent wings and elegant long tails, about the size of their cousins, the ravens, crows, and jays.
They frequent streams, pastures, fence posts, and roadsides.
Preferred foods are insects and rodents, but they'll also eat the eggs and young of other birds, making them only more unpopular.
Both the male and females build large nests in trees, usually with a domed roof of sticks and a floor of mud lined with finer material.
The male brings in food during the two to three weeks the female incubates the eggs.
Some ornithologists have observed teamwork between magpies and hawks in watching over the offspring.
And when magpies are done with their sturdy nests, other birds and animals will reoccupy them.
Though magpies have long been considered troublemakers, they are protected by law and it's illegal to destroy them or their eggs and young.
Some even call them the birds everyone loves to hate.
These conspicuous corvids are often considered a noisy nuisance, getting into trash, going after crops, preying on other animals, and sometimes hassling people.
The black-billed magpie is widespread in the Intermountain West and is fairly easy to identify.
They're dressed in striking black and white, with iridescent wings and elegant long tails, about the size of their cousins, the ravens, crows, and jays.
They frequent streams, pastures, fence posts, and roadsides.
Preferred foods are insects and rodents, but they'll also eat the eggs and young of other birds, making them only more unpopular.
Both the male and females build large nests in trees, usually with a domed roof of sticks and a floor of mud lined with finer material.
The male brings in food during the two to three weeks the female incubates the eggs.
Some ornithologists have observed teamwork between magpies and hawks in watching over the offspring.
And when magpies are done with their sturdy nests, other birds and animals will reoccupy them.
Though magpies have long been considered troublemakers, they are protected by law and it's illegal to destroy them or their eggs and young.
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