Best shot size for magpie?
- Thread starter TheArmyMan204
- Start date
Well I got 1 magpie. They're pretty smart so after the first shot I didn't see any for the rest of the day. I also got about 12 grackles. They are pretty dumb and just kept flying back and forth over head. And I thought shooting clays was fun
They are one mountain range away. They are around Smithers ( first personally noticed about eight years ago) and west down the Skeena Valley now, but if seen on my of the hill will be pursued immediately, they are hell on songbirds. I thought they were parasite nesters too upon reading found out different. It is a very common fallacy. Very smart.
We used to have to get rid of the nasty critters as we had the sows outside on the farm in Alberta and they picked holes in the sows backs all the time. We mixed Warble treatment with hamburger and put in on a flat board on top of a post. The birds play in the hamburger with their feet and absorb the warble treatment and it kills them off. The only way we found to get rid of them in any amounts.
- Location
- Planet Earth Wearing My Tinfoil Hat
The black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia), also known as the American magpie, is a bird in the crow family that inhabits the western half of North America, from southern coastal Alaska to northern California, northern Nevada, northern Arizona, northern New Mexico, central Kansas, and Nebraska. It is black and white, with black areas on the wings and tail showing iridescent hints of blue or blue-green. It is one of only four North American songbirds whose tail makes up half or more of the total body length (the others being the yellow-billed magpie, the scissor-tailed flycatcher, and the fork-tailed flycatcher).
This species prefers generally open habitats with clumps of trees. It can therefore be found in farmlands and suburban areas, where it comes into regular contact with people. Where persecuted it becomes very wary, but otherwise it is fairly tolerant of human presence. Historically associated with bison herds, it now lands on the back of cattle to glean ticks and insects from them. Large predators such as wolves are commonly followed by black-billed magpies, who scavenge from their kills. The species also walks on the ground, where it obtains such food items as beetles, grasshoppers, worms, and small rodents.
The black-billed magpie is one of the few North American birds that build a domed nest. This nest is made up of twigs and sits near the top of trees. Usually 6-7 eggs are laid. Incubation, by the female only, starts when the clutch is complete, and lasts 16–21 days. The nestling period is 3–4 weeks.
This species prefers generally open habitats with clumps of trees. It can therefore be found in farmlands and suburban areas, where it comes into regular contact with people. Where persecuted it becomes very wary, but otherwise it is fairly tolerant of human presence. Historically associated with bison herds, it now lands on the back of cattle to glean ticks and insects from them. Large predators such as wolves are commonly followed by black-billed magpies, who scavenge from their kills. The species also walks on the ground, where it obtains such food items as beetles, grasshoppers, worms, and small rodents.
The black-billed magpie is one of the few North American birds that build a domed nest. This nest is made up of twigs and sits near the top of trees. Usually 6-7 eggs are laid. Incubation, by the female only, starts when the clutch is complete, and lasts 16–21 days. The nestling period is 3–4 weeks.
