Black-billed Magpie

A strikingly marked and conspicuous bird of the cold, shrub-steppe environment of western North America, the Black-billed Magpie has attracted much attention and had a colorful association with early Americans. It frequently followed bison-hunting Native-Americans and lived on the refuse of their hunts. When Lewis and Clark first encountered magpies in 1804 in South Dakota, these birds were bold, entering tents to steal meat and taking food from the hand.

Twelve subspecies of magpies are found throughout northern Europe and Asia, with probable connections via the Bering Land Bridge to Black-billed and Yellow-billed Magpies in western North America.