Yellow-billed Magpie

Yellow-billed Magpie

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

Although the Yellow-billed Magpie is common and conspicuous in the open oak woodlands of central and southern California, it is found nowhere else in the world.

Description

• Large black-and-white songbird with a long dark tail.
• Bill and area around eye bright yellow.

• Size: 43-54 cm (17-21 in)
• Wingspan: 61 cm (24 in)
• Weight: 150-170 g (5.3-6.0 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes alike in plumage, but male averages slightly larger.

Sound

Call a harsh, chattering "wock, wock wock-a-wock, wock, pjur, weer, weer."

Conservation Status

Populations stable, should be monitered because of the species' limited range.

Other Names

Pie à bec jaune (French)
Urraca (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Yellow-billed Magpie is omnivorous, eating a variety of plant and animal foods. Insects, however, make up most of the diet. The Yellow-billed Magpie has been seen pecking insects off the backs of mule deer.

• The covered nest requires maintenance to the canopy throughout the nesting season. The Yellow-billed Magpie usually builds a new nest each year, but if a nest fails early in the breeding season the pair will refurbish an old nest for a renesting attempt rather than build a new one.

Sources used to construct this page:

Reynolds, M. D. 1995. Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli). In The Birds of North America, No. 180 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.