First Record of Apparent Hybridization between the Yellow-billed and Black-billed Magpies

The Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli) and Black-billed Magpie (P. hudsonia) are closely related, but their ranges are allopatric. Both species are nonmigratory and highly sedentary, with few extralimital records. In April 2023, a Black-billed Magpie was discovered in Redding, Shasta County, California, in an area occupied by Yellow-billed Magpies. The Black-billed Magpie occurred regularly with a Yellow-billed Magpie at a bird-feeder, and subsequently two juvenile magpies with light pink and gray bills were seen together there. Because of the rarity of this bill coloration and the coincidence with a mixed-species pair, we conclude that the juveniles were the pair’s hybrid offspring. A literature review and records search indicate that each species occurs in the other’s range exceedingly rarely, and this appears to be the first record of presumed hybridization between the species.