17-22 inches (45-55 cm) Pica pica Corvidae

Living in the western and north-western areas of North America, the Magpie is a common bird throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe and Asia. Similar in appearance they differ only by their voice, let's say they communicate with an American or European dialect.

The plumage appears black and white on cloudy days but the black feathers turn metallic blue and green if the sun shines on it.

People generally don't like Magpies because they destroy the eggs and the fledglings of other birds. These very intelligent members of the crow family wander in bands, terrorizing the neighborhood with loud screeches. One may forgive them knowing that they are eating lots of insects and rodents, not to mention they also clean the road side of the dead creatures killed by our cars.

I don't think that they are really afraid of people, but that they rather don't trust us too much (are they truly wrong ???), despite that, they often can be seen in towns and suburbs, looking for trash and other human waste.

The large domed nest is made of twigs and built high in the crotch of a tree, holding 5-8 greenish eggs.