How do I keep magpies off my bird feeder?

The short answer

• A Black-billed Magpie weighs 145 to 210 g (Audubon). A weight-activated feeder left at a squirrel setting near 400 to 500 g never closes under one. Turn it down to close near 140 g (5 oz) to keep Steller's Jays and doves, or near 70 g to stop every magpie with no margin to worry about.
• Magpies learn upside-down suet feeders. The fix a Montana FeederWatch participant found was a flat plate hung 4 in below the inverted cake: nuthatches, chickadees and woodpeckers still fed, magpies could not.
• Magpies forage mostly by walking on the ground. Rake up spill every evening, take trays and ground offerings away, secure trash and compost, and feed pets indoors.
• In the United States both magpies are protected. The Black-billed Magpie is on the 50 CFR 21.150 depredation order, whose conditions a bird feeder does not meet. The Yellow-billed Magpie of California is not on that order at all.
• In Canada the Migratory Birds Convention's list of covered birds does not name magpies. In Alberta, municipalities handle magpie complaints and Edmonton helps residents trap them on their own property.

Set the feeder to close under a lighter bird than a squirrel, put a plate under the suet, and clear the ground. A Black-billed Magpie weighs 145 to 210 g, according to Audubon. That is heavy for a songbird but less than half a gray squirrel, so a weight-activated feeder left at its squirrel setting feeds magpies all day. Turned down to close near 140 g, about 5 oz, it shuts out every magpie and keeps a 100 g Steller's Jay. On suet, an upside-down cake slows magpies only until they learn it; a flat plate 4 in below the cake is what stopped them in a Montana yard. Trapping is not a US option.

Two ideas circulate. One treats the magpie as a crow: a big black bird that any squirrel-proof feeder will stop. The other says magpies are unprotected pests you can trap or shoot. The first fails on weight, because a magpie is far lighter than a crow. The second has some truth in Alberta and none in the United States.

Which magpie, and where#

North America has two. The Black-billed Magpie lives across the interior West and western Canada, north into Alaska. Audubon calls it mostly a permanent resident, and Alberta notes it does not normally migrate, so a winter flock at your feeder is a local one. The Yellow-billed Magpie lives only in California, in an area Audubon puts at about 500 miles north to south and under 150 miles wide, mostly the central valleys and the oak savanna around them.

The difference matters for the law, below, and for how hard you push. West Nile virus hit the Yellow-billed Magpie harder than any other California bird with a useful sample: in a 2008 study, 78% of 1,007 carcasses tested were positive, and state data suggested the population may have fallen 49% in two years. If yours has a yellow bill, keep the bird away from the feeder by all means, but this is a species in decline, not a pest.

Weight settles the feeder#

This is where the crow advice breaks down. A crow at 311 g or more gets close to a squirrel setting and a heavy one trips it. A magpie never does. Its heaviest bird is less than half of a 500 g squirrel trigger, and the feeder stays open.

A weight gate closes on total load, as our cage and weight comparison explains. Two jays on a 140 g ring at once will shut it, so expect a few more closed-port moments with the higher setting and fewer with the lower one. A 1.5 in wire cage is the other route. It stops anything the size of a cardinal and up, so it stops magpies, along with every jay.

Suet: the magpie's favorite feeder#

Audubon lists carrion and rodents in the Black-billed Magpie's diet, and on a feeding station the nearest thing to that is a block of suet. The usual anti-starling answer, an upside-down suet feeder, works on starlings because they will not hang for long. It does not hold magpies for long.

Project FeederWatch published the account of Kathy Karjala of Bozeman, Montana, whose Black-billed Magpies were eating suet fast. She turned the cake upside down, still in its plastic, so birds had to hang to feed. Nuthatches, chickadees and woodpeckers coped; so, eventually, did the magpies. The fix was a piece of laminate hung 4 in below the inverted cake, first on wire and later on fishing line. With it, the magpies had trouble while the small birds and woodpeckers fed. The one catch was snow: the plate collected it, and a Hairy Woodpecker learned to clear it with its head. You can save it the trouble by brushing the plate after a snowfall.

How to build it:

1. Use an upside-down suet feeder with a solid top, or invert a cage feeder under a small roof.
2. Hang a flat, rigid plate a little wider than the feeder 4 in below the cake. Fishing line at the four corners holds it level and lets it swing slightly.
3. Leave the sides open. Woodpeckers reach the cake from the plate or by clinging to the cage.
4. If a magpie still feeds, close the gap a little at a time. We have not seen a measured minimum; 4 in is one yard's working figure, not a tested limit.

Plugs in a drilled log are the harder proposition again, as the suet format comparison shows, and our suet guide covers the cakes themselves.

The ground, the trash and the pet bowl#

Audubon's Black-billed Magpie "forages mostly by walking on ground" and "sometimes steals food from other birds." Alberta's guidance names bird feeders among the things magpies damage and is blunt about the cause: the birds are most likely in your yard because they find food there. Its list is short and matches Edmonton's:

• Keep garbage in a secure container with a lid.
• Cover the compost.
• Feed pets indoors and store the pet food inside.

To that, add the feeder ground. Rake the spill under the feeder every evening, take the platform feeder down for a few weeks, and stop scattering seed. Pause peanuts and corn while magpies are visiting; our preference data has no magpie row, but the jays it does track rate both top-tier. A tube feeder with short perches and no tray, filled with safflower or hearts, gives a 150 g bird little to stand on.

Scare devices and the nest in the next tree#

Alberta says scarecrows, eye balloons and hawk kites "can be effective for a short time" and must be moved often. Edmonton says there are no registered magpie repellents. That fits the pattern on every bird that learns a yard: anything that sits still becomes furniture.

Alberta's other two suggestions are about shelter. You can thin a tree until it gives too little cover for a magpie to roost in comfortably, and you can remove a nest before the young hatch, after which the birds often settle elsewhere. The nest is hard to miss: Audubon describes a globular canopy of sticks about 3 ft across, usually 15 to 30 ft up. In the United States, do not touch an active nest. Both species are protected, and the nest with them.

Spring is when magpies matter most to the rest of the yard. Audubon lists eggs and young of other birds in the diet, so during nesting season keep feeders well away from nest boxes.

What the law allows#

The depredation order is the same one that covers cowbirds, crows and grackles. Anyone who does qualify reports on FWS Form 3-2436 by January 31 and must follow state law on top. Edmonton's own tip sheet lists the costs of trapping: orphaned young, bait that draws more animals, and a vacancy the next magpie fills.

Where this page stops#

• Canada beyond Alberta was not checked. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the territories may differ.
• The 4 in plate is one yard's result, reported to FeederWatch, not a study.
• The 140 g setting is our derivation from Audubon's weights and our own species data, not a tested figure. Calibrate it.
• Disease comes first. If magpies or jays are found dead near the feeders, follow the steps for disease at feeders before anything here.

For what else turns up at western feeders, see feeder birds by region, and the problems section covers every other visitor.

Frequently asked questions#

Why doesn't my squirrel-proof feeder stop magpies?

Because a magpie is too light to trip it. A Black-billed Magpie weighs 145 to 210 g, and many weight-activated feeders are set to close under a gray squirrel at around 400 to 500 g. Turn the setting down so the ports close near 140 g, about 5 oz, and test it with a known weight on the perch. That still lets a 100 g Steller's Jay feed. If your model cannot go that low, or magpies still get through, set it near 70 g: every magpie closes it, but so do jays and doves.

How do I stop magpies eating all my suet?

Hang the cake upside down so birds must feed from below, then hang a flat plate 4 in under it. That arrangement comes from a Project FeederWatch participant in Bozeman, Montana: magpies learned the inverted cake on its own, but with the plate below it they had trouble while nuthatches, chickadees and woodpeckers fed normally. She hung the plate on fishing line. In snow, clear the plate, because woodpeckers have to perch on it.

Is it legal to trap magpies at my bird feeder?

Not in the United States. Both magpies are on the federal list of protected migratory birds. The Black-billed Magpie is on the 50 CFR 21.150 depredation order, which allows permit-free control only for crop or livestock feed damage, a health hazard, structural damage or to protect a listed species, and nonlethal methods come first each year. A feeder meets none of those. The Yellow-billed Magpie is not on that order at all. In Alberta the rules differ: Edmonton's animal control center helps residents trap magpies on their own property.

Do magpies kill songbirds at feeders?

Magpies eat eggs and nestlings. Audubon lists eggs and young of other birds in the Black-billed Magpie's diet, and Alberta notes that magpies get louder in spring and summer when their own young are calling for food. That is the season a magpie in the yard is most likely to check nest boxes and shrubs near the feeder. Keep feeders away from nest boxes in spring.

Will a fake owl or hawk kite scare magpies away?

For a short time. Alberta's wildlife guidance says scarecrows, eye balloons and hawk kites can be effective for a short time and must be moved often to stay effective. Edmonton adds that there are no registered magpie repellents. Removing the food is the step that lasts: the Alberta page says that if you want the birds to leave for good, you have to remove the food or shelter they are finding, and that removing one magpie only leaves a vacancy for another.

Sources and further reading

1. Black-billed Magpie; Yellow-billed Magpie, Guide to North American Birds National Audubon Society Black-billed 18 to 24 in, 145 to 210 g, forages mostly walking on the ground, steals food from other birds, eats carrion, rodents, eggs and young of other birds, seeds and nuts more in winter, nest 5 to 60 ft up; Yellow-billed 16 to 18 in, 150 to 190 g, only in California, caches acorns, declines in recent decades
2. 50 CFR 21.150, Depredation order for blackbirds, cowbirds, crows, grackles, and magpies Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) is the only magpie listed; conditions for permit-free control; nonlethal methods first each calendar year; annual report on FWS Form 3-2436 by January 31; state, tribal and territorial law applies
3. 50 CFR 10.13, List of Migratory Birds eCFR, US Fish and Wildlife Service Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) and Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli) both listed as protected migratory birds
4. Early Impact of West Nile Virus on the Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli), The Auk 125(3), 2008 Crosbie, Koenig, Reisen and others, via OpenAlex abstract 78% of 1,007 carcasses tested WNV-positive, highest of any California species; population may have fallen 49% in two years; BBS down 22% by 2005, CBC down 42% by 2006
5. Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994, Schedule (Convention, Article I) Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada Lists the game, insectivorous and other nongame birds covered; magpies and crows are not named
6. Human-wildlife conflict: Crows and magpies Government of Alberta Magpies do not normally migrate; damage bird feeders; remove the food or shelter; removing one leaves a vacancy; secure garbage, cover compost, feed pets indoors; nest removal before hatching; frightening devices effective for a short time, move them often; municipalities authorized to help
7. Magpies and Crows tip sheet City of Edmonton, Animal Care and Control Centre Feeders too small for magpies; no registered repellents; same food and frightening advice as Alberta; trapping considerations
8. The Neighbour Series Part 4: Shooting at Magpies (22 April 2014) Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta Magpies among birds exempt from Alberta's hunting license rule; firearm bylaws and the Criminal Code still apply; Edmonton's Animal Care and Control Centre helps residents trap magpies on their own property
9. Deterring unwanted visitors: Defeating magpies taught a woodpecker a new trick Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch Bozeman, Montana participant: inverted suet worked until magpies learned it; a laminate plate 4 in below the cake, hung on fishing line, stopped magpies while nuthatches, chickadees and woodpeckers fed