Black-billed Magpie: One’s for Sorrow, Two’s for Joy…

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

More than most, the Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) is a bird that inspires strong emotions in humans. A familiar species across much of the West, the Black-billed Magpie is intelligent, adaptable, and bold. For these attributes, they are both admired and loathed. While considered an annoyance or an inconvenience by some, they are also highly social and will occasionally leave “gifts” for humans who feed them.

Like many other intelligent and opportunistic corvids, magpies will take advantage of whatever resources they can. As such, the Black-billed Magpie is probably best known as a scavenger of garbage, carrion, and poorly guarded picnics. This has given these birds a bad reputation, with many regarding them as pests. A common folk belief is that magpies will wound cows to eat their flesh or drink their blood. Magpies will, in fact, stand on the backs of cows to probe and peck. However, the goal is typically not to eat the cow itself, but the parasites on the cow, such as ticks, that are doing just that. Cows are not the only beneficiaries of this behavior — magpies will eat ticks off of other large mammals, including bison, moose, elk, and deer.

The Black-billed Magpie holds a special place in mythology as well. Magpies are recognized as messengers in numerous Indigenous cultures of North America, sometimes to the aid of humans, sometimes to carry news to the Creator. One widespread story tells of how the magpie, for helping humans and birds alike, was given the honor of “wearing the rainbow” — a reference to the iridescent sheen on this bird’s wings and tail.

Also known as: Qalqaruq (Yup’ik), Uƞkčékhiȟa (Lakota), Mamiá’tsikimi (Blackfoot), Íipiakaate (Apsaalooke), Apistshigagasees (Cree), Mo’é’ha (Cheyenne)

Learn more at https://abcbirds.org/birds/black-billed-magpie/