[obol] Siskiyou/Jackson Co. magpies

[Clint Brumitt]

Years ago as I got started using OBOL, a birder from the Portland area, Skip Russell if I remember correctly, would travel to So. Oregon and search the Mt. Ashland/Colestein area for CALIFORNIA THRASHERS.   This was a spring time event attempting to find the bird during its mating rituals and much more visible than the rest of the year.    While this bird has developed into a real troublesome bird for me personally, it started me birding the border area.  

At the time, a BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE was a rarity in the Jackson Co. and much more common on the Klamath side of the Cascades.  On my first or second trip down Colestein looking for CAL. THRASHERS, I found two BLACK-BILLED MAGPIES on the Oregon side of the border.  Numerous trips since then have shown the BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE to be rare find in the area at best.  And, they are a lot more common than the CAL. THRASHERS.

Doug Kirkpatrick raised the question of the YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE being seen in Siskiyou Co. California or Jackson Co. Oregon.  I would like to know just how far north of Redding is the normal home range of the YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE.  It is about 180 miles from Medford to Redding, truly not far as a bird travels.  Has there ever  been any evidence of the two Magpie species interbreeding or in any way sharing the same habitat?

The border region was heavily covered during the Breeding surveys in recent years.  Neither the YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE or the CALIFORNIA THRASHERS were seen to my knowledge.

Since things change all the time wouldn't it be a wonderful find to discover one or both bird in the area.

Clint Brumitt
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