One Moment in Nature is a reflection back in time to a moment of discovery as I explored the natural settings around me. Through the sharing of this moment, is my hope that readers will become motivated to learn more about our environment and its inhabitants, and become passionate advocates for conservation. One Moment in Nature is a Reflections of the Natural World Blog Post Series by Jim Gain
THE MOMENT
On Thursday, May 9, 2024, sat in my backyard as I often do, enjoying the constant influx and egress of birds to my feeders when a calling Yellow-billed Magpie caught my attention as it flew over the house. They nested in the large trees along Euclid Ave near Saint Anthony’s church and frequently would fly over the house without ever landing. This time however, the noisy calling magpie circled around and landed next to one of the ground seed feeders and proceeded to grab a couple of black sunflower seeds. I didn’t have my “real” camera but I managed to snap a very poor image with my iPhone.
It flew off and I immediately ran inside to grab my Canon R5, my “real” camera with a 500 mm lens in case it returned. After about 15 minutes it landed on my fence and proceeded to scope out the backyard, hopping from fence to fence.
It eventually hopped to one of my water features to get a drink.
ABOUT THE SPECIES
Distribution and Abundance: The Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli) is a common yearround resident throughout the Central Valley of California from the San Joaquin Valley north through the Sacramento Valley and also along the Central California Coast Range. Through much of its range, this species is restricted to oak savanna habitat containing large trees scattered across broad expanses of open ground. Urban populations nest in a wide range of native and non-native tree species mainly close to rivers and streams, and forage on irrigated turf (lawn) in parks and in annual grassland that is mowed.
Conservation Status: According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Yellow-billed Magpie is categorized as a Vulnerable Species. The species suffered high levels of mortality and a severe population decline owing to an outbreak of West Nile virus (Airola et al. 2007, Crosbie et al. 2008). Following the documented arrival of the virus in California in summer 2003 (Reisen et al. 2004), data have suggested a decline of 42-49% from 2004 to 2006 (Crosbie et al. 2008).
ABOUT THE AREA
Our small backyard lies in the middle of a new residential development in NE Hughson called the Fieldstone Community. There is virtually nothing to attact birds to any of the 60 nearby homes other than our little backyard oasis. Over the past 18 months we have planted many hummingbird and butterfly friendly plants with two water features, four seed feeders and 9 hummingbird feeders.
PHOTO GALLERY
Most recent Blog Posts from the One Moment in Nature series.
Reflections of the Natural World 
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