All in all, the magpie-jay can be 30 inches long, and more than half of it is its tail. It is a lustrous steel blue on top, with a white belly, and a midnight blue or black crest and bib and cheek ...

These birds hop and walk on the ground with a swaggering and confident gait. Learn more about the black-billed magpie. ... An unusually long-tailed black-and-white corvid with a black bill.

While Anchorage's ubiquitous magpies have many of the same concerns faced by the city's human residents, the aggressive birds also sometimes see people as a problem -- and the feeling is often mutual.

While, on the face of it, the Magpie is a striking bird with its plump body, upright stance, long tail, confidently alert demeanour, bold black and white pattern and plumage with a metallic ...

Magpies are the only bird in our area with a tail longer than the body. In proper lighting, their wings and tail even display an iridescent quality. Magpies are in the corvid group.