Page "Black-billed Magpie" Paragraph 17

Like American Crows, magpies tend to roost communally in winter.

Every evening they fly, often in groups and sometimes over long distances, to reach safe roosting sites such as dense trees or shrubs that impede predator movement, or, at higher latitudes, dense conifers that afford good wind protection.

In Canada they arrive at the roosting site earlier in the evening and leave later in the morning on colder days.

At the roosting site they tend to occupy trees singly ; they do not huddle.

They sleep with the bill tucked under the scapular ( shoulder ) and back feathers, adopting this position sooner on colder nights.

During the night they may also regurgitate, in the form of pellets, the undigested parts of what they ate during the day.

Such pellets can be found on the ground and then used to determine at least part of the birds ' diet.