---
title: "Amerikaanse ekster"
description: "Pica hudsonia — Vogels. The black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia), also known as the American magpie, is a bird in the corvid family found in the western half of North America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/black-billed-magpie
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Amerikaanse ekster

> Pica hudsonia — Vogels. The black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia), also known as the American magpie, is a bird in the corvid family found in the western half of North America.

- Scientific name: *Pica hudsonia*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `grassland` (Weiden en velden), `urban` (Steden en tuinen), `farm` (Boerderij)
- iNaturalist observations: 44059
- Wikidata: [Q254057](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q254057)
- iNaturalist taxon: [143853](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/143853)

## Names

- en: Black-billed Magpie
- de: Hudsonelster
- es: Urraca de Hudson
- fr: Pie d'Amérique
- nl: Amerikaanse ekster
- pl: Sroka czarnodzioba

## Countries with the most observations

US (24895), CA (17387)

## Summary

The black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia), also known as the American magpie, is a bird in the corvid family found in the western half of North America. It is black and white, with the wings and tail showing black areas and iridescent hints of blue and blue-green. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of Pica pica (Eurasian magpie), but was separated as a species in its own in 2000 based on genetic studies.
This species prefers generally open habitats with clumps of trees, but can also commonly be found in farmlands and suburban areas. Historically associated with bison herds, it now lands on the backs of cattle to…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-billed_magpie

## Photo

![Amerikaanse ekster](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/black-billed-magpie/medium.jpg)

Photo: Richard Bruins · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200425899

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/black-billed-magpie?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).