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MAGPIE
  Bird Call
| Characteristics: |
46cm long including the exceptionally long graduated tail. Plumage that is a richly contrasted black and white colour with iridescent metallic green, blue and purple sheens depending on the angle of the light. Sexes are identically coloured. Juvenile plumage does not have the metallic sheen. Flittering flight, hopping motion on the ground.
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| Call: |
Loud and arresting calls, typically a harsh chack-chack-chack sound as if one shook a half-empty box of matches.
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| Habitat: |
Open countryside with groves, parks and gardens and increasingly in areas of human habitation.
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| Distribution: |
The Magpie can be found across almost all of Europe, large parts of Asia, parts of North Africa and North America.
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| Biology: |
Highly diverse diet; insects and other small animals, amphibians, eggs and the young of other birds, fruits and seeds, refuse and carcasses. Constructed out of quite large twigs and branches, Magpies build a large nest that is a domed or egg-shaped with a side entrance. It is usually situated high in a tree and because nest building commences well before leaf growth commences Magpie nests are easy to find. It lays 6 to 7 eggs with brown and grey speckles on a yellowish, greenish or grey background. Egg colouring is very variable. Clutches from April; 1 clutch a year.
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