Yellow-billed magpie

Yellow-billed magpie
Temporal range:
Turlock, California

Vulnerable  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genus: Pica
Species:
P. nuttallii
Binomial name
Pica nuttallii
(Audubon, 1837)
Synonyms
  • Pica nutallii (Audubon, 1837) [orth. error]

The yellow-billed magpie (Pica nuttallii), also known as the California magpie, is a large corvid that inhabits 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, it is virtually identical to the black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia) found in much of the rest of North America. The scientific name commemorates the English naturalist Thomas Nuttall.