Black-billed Magpie

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Black-billed Magpie
Montana Outdoors Magazine
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks

FOOD
Magpies are intelligent and resourceful omnivores. They eat insects, carrion, eggs, nestlings, and rodents, as well as berries, seeds, and nuts. Magpies often follow predators to steal morsels from a kill or clean up the leavings. They also pick ticks and other insects from the backs of elk and deer, and will flip over sticks and cow pies to get at the insects underneath.

Near human habitation, they search garbage containers for food and eat from pet dishes left outside. Extremely bold, magpies will enter campsites or even unguarded tents to steal food.

HABITAT
Though found in many mountainous areas as high as timberline, black-billed magpies prefer open areas with short vegetation and patches of trees and shrubs similar to the prairie environment where my daughter and I were hunting. These birds also live year-round along rivers and streams and in urban areas and forest edges across the West. Black-billed magpies are found in nearly every county in Montana.

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