Black-billed magpie

Description:

A large bird in the crow family with long tails. It has a black head or hood, white belly, lower half and tail feathers are blue. the wings are a contrasting black and white.

Habitat:

Spotted on next to a farm road just a couple of miles north of Ellensburg, Washington. They prefer open habitats near clumps of trees, especially riparian groves. This one was digging in a pile of grass clippings.

Notes:

Black-billed magpies range in the north from coastal southern Alaska, central British Columbia, and the southern halves of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, through the Rocky Mountains down south to all the Rocky Mountain states including New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and some bordering states as well. The range extends as far east as northern Minnesota and Iowa, with casual records in northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan, but is thought to be limited further east and south by high temperature and humidity.- Wikipedia.