Yellow-billed Magpie
Pica nuttalli
Large, striking black-and-white bird; related to crows and jays. Unmistakably long tail and bold pattern, especially visible in flight. Look for bright yellow bill and iridescent blue-green on wings and tail. Limited range in California; does not overlap with Black-billed Magpie. Prefers open areas with scattered trees, especially oaks. Often found in pairs or small family groups foraging on the ground.
识别特征
The yellow-billed magpie (Pica nuttallii), also known as the California magpie, is a bird that is endemic to California's Central Valley and the adjacent chaparral foothills and mountains. Apart from its having a yellow bill and a yellow streak around the eye and being slightly smaller, it is virtually identical to the black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia) found in much of the rest of western North America. The scientific name commemorates the English naturalist Thomas Nuttall.
分类信息
mtDNA sequence analysis indicates a close relationship between the yellow-billed magpie and the black-billed magpie, rather than between the outwardly very similar black-billed and European magpies (P. pica).<p>The Korean subspecies of the European magpie (P. p. sericea) is more distantly related to all other (including North American) forms judging from the molecular evidence, and thus, either the North American forms are maintained as specifically distinct. The Korean (and possibly related) subspecies are also elevated to species status, or all magpies are considered to be subspecies of a single species, Pica pica.<p>Combining fossil evidence and paleobiogeographical considerations with the molecular data indicates that the yellow-billed magpie's ancestors became isolated in California quite soon after the ancestral magpies colonized North America due to early ice ages and the ongoing uplift of the Sierra Nevada, but that during interglacials there occurred some gene flow between the yellow- and black-billed magpies until reproductive isolation was fully achieved in the Pleistocene.<p>The yellow-billed magpie is adapted to the hot summers of California's Central Valley and experiences less heat stress than the black-billed magpie.
- 学名
- Pica nuttalli
- 命名信息
- (Audubon, 1837)
- 目
- Passeriformes
- 科
- Corvidae
- 属
- Pica
分布与栖息地
- 迁徙
- Resident species
行为
Migration pattern: Resident species.
保护状况
Population trend: declining.
- 种群趋势
- declining
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
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Bizarre and unique-looking finch. Note the lumpy diagnostic patch of bright color around the eye and forehead: red in males, yellow in females. Brownish overall with white wingbars; underparts are rosy-tinged in males. Breeds in mountainous and hilly forests and winters at lower elevations in clearings and forest edge. Moves in pairs and small to medium-sized flocks, often foraging out in the open or perched up on top of trees. Typical song descending and fluid, with a sharp uptick towards the end; also gives fluty and chipping notes.
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