Why Yes, I am the Center of the Universe: Yellow-billed Magpie on the Tuolumne River

Just a quick single picture tonight. This is a Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli), one of California's
very few endemic bird species. Endemics are those species that are found in one place and nowhere else in the world, and this magpie fits the bill very nicely. It is common in California's Great Valley and the Coast Ranges, and is found nowhere else. We almost lost it a decade ago when the West Nile virus decimated the flocks. More than half the population was wiped out. Luckily a few seemed to have had some resistance to the virus and the populations have stabilized somewhat, although not yet to the number that existed prior to 2004 when the virus arrived.

I was thrilled to see a flock of more than a hundred of the Yellow-billed Magpies flying over the campus of CSU Stanislaus a few weeks ago. I've seen as many as two dozen or so at a time on the bluffs above the Tuolumne River in Waterford in recent weeks as well. There are also at least two dozen living on the west campus of Modesto Junior College.

This one that I saw today was obviously saying that it was the center of the Universe by making sure it was framed correctly by the barbed wire.

A Near-California Endemic, the California Towhee on the Tuolumne River

Endemic that is, if we are talking about all of California, Alta and Baja, and also count a bit of southern Oregon. California doesn't have all that many true endemics, primarily the Yellow-Billed Magpie, and the Channel Islands Scrub Jay. It seems odd to me that this is so because of the great geographic barrier presented by the Sierra Nevada and Peninsular Range, as well as the harsh deserts that lie to the east. That's the way it is, but the California Towhee (Melozone crissalis) is an example of the isolation of a bird type that leads to speciation. There is a very similar bird that lives across the southwest, the Canyon Towhee, along with the Abert's Towhee. The Canyon was once considered that same as the California, but they are isolated from each other and have changed. There is also a very small population (~200 individuals) in the Argus Mountains near Death Valley (the Inyo California Towhee) that also show differences.

The California Towhee that I spied and photographed was hunting in the fig trees along the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail the other day. They are a large species of sparrow, and often hunt for seeds by scrabbling in the dirt, sparrow-style. That's what this one was doing until I bumbled along the trail and scared it up into the shrubs. But it was nice enough to pose for a few minutes.

A California Endemic, A Nuttall's Woodpecker on the Tuolumne Parkway

Sometimes I am just being a snot, by posting pictures of birds that no one outside of California can see unless they come here. There aren't that many birds that are endemic just to California, really just two (the Yellow-billed Magpie, and the Channel Islands Scrub Jay), but the Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii) is one as well, as long as we count the northern end of Baja California as part of California (and why not?). There is a single record of one in Oregon.

This one was on the Tuolumne River the other day in its characteristic habitat of an oak woodland. Although they live almost exclusively among the oaks, they don't consume acorns. They mostly eat insects that they dig out of the bark, and occasionally they will eat native berries, like elderberries or poison oak.

A California Endemic, Nuttall's Woodpecker on the Tuolumne River

The Tuolumne River Parkway Trail has been closed for a couple of weeks while the operators of Don Pedro Reservoir try to build up some storage space by flooding the lower river. The waters have been flowing at around 10,000 cubic feet per second since early January. The emergency spillway was open for several days, increasing flows to 18,000 cfs, and putting portions of the trail underwater, but the spillway closed a few days ago, so the river level has fallen a little. I got down to the trail this afternoon, and except for one makeshift detour past a flooded stretch, I was able to follow the whole trail. And no one else was there. Except for lots of birds.

The most striking discovery of the day were several Nuttall's Woodpeckers (Picoides nuttallii) exploring the old cottonwood trees above the river. I haven't seen any since May of last year, so it was a bit of a delight. I wasted a lot of shots trying to hit fast-moving targets.

Along with the Yellow-billed Magpies and the Santa Cruz Island Scrub Jay, the Nuttall's Woodpecker is endemic to California (at least as long as you count Baja; about 1% of the population is found there). They live in the oak woodlands and chaparral zones of the state, although they don't consume acorns. They mostly spend their time search the crevices in tree bark for insects.

Nuttall's Woodpecker, a California Endemic, on the MJC East Campus

I don't see them that often, but the Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii) is a California original. There are a few rare sightings in southern Oregon, and a fair number of sightings in Baja California, but Baja is part of California anyway (international boundaries are human things). They are showy enough that they get sighted pretty often, but the total population is estimated at about 600,000 birds, with 99% of them in California state. They are mainly prefer oak woodlands, although they have fared well in urban settings as well. It was in fact an urban setting where I saw this one.

People wonder why I always have a camera close at hand, even when running mundane errands. In this instance I was rushing to join the graduation ceremony at MJC on Friday when I heard an odd sound in the tree above my parking spot. I looked up and saw the woodpecker practically over my head. So I put down the robes, and got my camera out! You just never know when you'll see something and wish you had a camera.

California's Endemic: Yellow-billed Magpie on the West Campus, Back from the Brink, Maybe?

California has precious few endemic species of birds. In one sense, this fact seems odd, given the many ecological "islands" in California, isolated environments where evolutionary pressures are the greatest. There are high alpine environments, desert mountain ranges with relict conifer forests, and valleys isolated by high mountain ranges, for instance. I have a feeling that the geology of the state has something to do with it the distribution of birds. There are many environments, but the orientation of the geological provinces is mostly north-south, and routes exist for birds to spread far and wide, crossing political borders into Baja and the Pacific Northwest. There are low exit points from places like the Great Valley and low passes over the margins of the Sierra Nevada. Other vertebrates can't surmount these boundaries the way flying birds can, so the trapped reptiles, amphibians and mammals show a great deal more species variation and endemism (is that a word?).

Endemic species are also vulnerable. Highly specialized species living in a single environment are subject to population disruptions when that environment is altered by the appearance of an invasive species or new disease. We've seen that on a human scale in our state. The indigenous people of the state were almost completely wiped out in the early 1800s by malaria and other diseases, with mortality rates estimated in the range of 90%. Our endemic Yellow-billed Magpies (Pica nuttalli) almost met a similar fate, and only a few years ago.

In 2004, West Nile Virus reached California and the effect on the Yellow-billed Magpie was nothing less than catastrophic. They had almost no resistance to the virus (95% mortality), and their tendency to gather in large flocks made transfer of the virus inevitable. Within two years the population crashed, dropping from an estimated 180,000 birds to 90,000. By 2007, some research suggested that the population had been halved again. Only 5% of the living birds tested displayed any kind of antibody response to the virus. That's an extinction threat.

I have memories of big flocks of the Magpies in our region, and I've not seen anything like them in my travels of the last few years. I was so very pleased to come upon a small flock when I was walking the perimeter of our West Campus on Tuesday. There were a dozen or so birds, and that is probably the largest group I've seen in some time. I saw more of them this evening in my neighborhood as well. I hope it is a good sign. They are gorgeous spectacular birds, and it would be such a shame to lose them.

I can't find any more recent data on their populations. If you know anything, please feel free to contribute to the comments!

Bird of the Day: Nuttall's Woodpecker in the "Pasture"

I was getting back into my habit of morning walks today and noticed a lot of racket from some Mockingbirds in the nearly dead oak tree next to the pasture I walk around. I looked up expecting Mockingbirds, but instead just twenty feet away there was a Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii) in the same tree. I got the camera on and snapped two quick shots before it wandered off.

Nuttall's Woodpeckers are pretty much an Alta California endemic, with a bit of their range slipping south of the border into Baja California. They hang out almost exclusively in oak woodlands but don't eat acorns. They are after insects and other arthropods and occasionally some fruit. I've seen the Nuttall's Woodpecker in my neighborhood a few times now, and it was one of the biggest surprises since I started exploring the blocks around my house.