Black-billed Magpie

The black-billed magpie, Pica hudsonia, is another all-season Wyoming resident.   These birds are very easily recognized by their large size, lengthy tail and black and white (with blue on the wings) coloring.  Enature.com gives a few more identification tips:  "In flight, note the rounded black and white wings and long tail, tapered toward the tip. On the ground, [this species] walks with a rolling swagger or moves with long hops."

Allaboutbirds.org states that "until very recently the Black-billed Magpie was considered the same species as the Eurasian Magpie [Pica pica]. Vocal and behavioral differences suggest that the American magpie with the black bill is more closely related to the Yellow-billed Magpie than to the European black-billed magpie." The yellow-billed magpie, Pica nuttalli, lives in California.  ADW takes is a bit further and suggests that the differences run to the genetic level:  "Black-billed magpies of North America were formerly considered a subspecies of Pica pica, but mtDNA evidence suggests that the two North American magpie species are more closely related and may share a common ancestor. (Birkhead, 1991; Lee et al., 2003)"

The following picture of Pica pica was taken in a park in Dublin, Ireland.  I definitely thought it looked just like our local birds, if maybe a bit more tame!  Magpies are smart, suspcious birds that tend to be difficult to photograph because almost as soon as they realize you are looking at them, they take off.

I often see black-billed magpies near mountain roads, perched on fences or feeding on road kill.  They are omnivores that will eat small mammals or birds, fruits, nuts, eggs, or other convenient finds.  They forage on the ground for insects and will eat ticks off the backs of large, grazing mammals. 

Besides being smart enough to thwart the average photographer, magpies have large brains that can remember stored caches and other locational information.  They can be taught to mimic human speech.  And, most impressively, they pass the mirror test of self-recognition like apes, dolphins and elephants. 

From birdmind.com:  "The birds also showed other interesting behaviors -- lifting their feet and watching the result in a mirror, or peeking behind the mirror -- activities identical to a young human child discovering a mirror for the first time. These observations suggest that in addition to sharing our love of conversation, society and curiosity about the world around us -- Magpies also possess the elusive quality of self-awareness."