Feathered Mexican drifter finds haven in our yards

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

A beautiful stranger has flown into our midst -- an unusual bird from

Mexico. Many of you in southeast Huntington Beach have seen it in

your yards recently, and have e-mailed us, about the black-throated

magpie jay that has strayed far from home.

This large relative of jays and magpies is striking. With a blue

back, white chest and belly, and a black crest, face and throat, this

exceedingly long-tailed bird is just begging to be noticed. With a

length of over 21 inches from beak to tail, and a harsh, loud call,

it’s pretty hard to miss.

The normal territory of the black-throated magpie jay is open

woodland on the Pacific slope of Mexico. It is high on the list of

critters that birding aficionados want to see when they travel there.

The black-throated magpie jay eats fruits, berries, nuts, insects

and even small rodents. These birds live in small family groups, with

the oldest pair being the only ones that actually mate. The other

birds help care for the offspring of the mated pair.

Many birds in the family also care for the dominant female while

she is incubating. She sits regally on three or four brown-flecked

eggs, waiting for her mate and favored companions to come feed her.

Sounds like a nice life for her!

Black-throated magpie jays are popular caged birds in Mexico. Over

the years, a number of them have escaped, or been released, in

Tijuana. They have established a breeding population there, and

occasionally one will drift over the border into the United States.

In fact, Vic and I have been known to sit at the border and wait for

one to cross so we can count it on our U.S. bird list. Yeah, we know,

it’s a stupid hobby, but we enjoy it. You’ll be pleased to know that

we finally saw one on this side of the border, so we don’t have to do

that any more.

Many lucky people in southeast Huntington Beach don’t even have to

leave home to see one. According to several of our faithful readers,

a black-throated magpie jay is visiting their backyards, and they

have the photos to prove it.

One possibility for its presence here, other than drifting over

the border, is that this special bird was brought into the country

and released. Interestingly, we just saw a commercial on TV for

Burger King that may shed light on the mystery. Right behind that

creepy guy in the huge papier-mache king head was a flitting flock of

black-throated magpie jays.

Some clever ad agency must have gotten hold of some of the birds

to make the commercial. It would be interesting to know where they

made the commercial, and what they did with the magpie jays when they

were finished filming.

The fate of the local magpie jay is unclear. Without suitable food

and others of its kind, its chances of survival are slim. Crows

especially will pick on anything that looks unusual to them (a

“murder of crows”), and the magpie jay sure qualifies as unusual.

Without the protection of a flock, its days seem numbered.

Vic is interested in tracking the presence and location of the

bird, so if you’ve seen it, send him an e-mail and let him know when

and where. Thanks to those of you who have already done so.

The sighting of the magpie jay in town is pretty darn interesting,

but it can’t top the sighting of a male ivory-billed woodpecker in

eastern Arkansas. The news of seven recent confirmed sightings of

this species, feared extinct since the 1940s, has thrilled nature

lovers throughout the world. Vic broke the news to me as soon as he

heard, but the official announcement was embargoed until the findings

were published in the journal Science last week.

With a body length of 20 inches and a wingspan of 30 inches, this

is the largest woodpecker in America, and the third largest in the

world. What put this bird on a collision course with extinction was

decimation of old-growth forests in the southeast. Ivory-billed

woodpeckers primarily eat beetle larvae, found only in decaying trees

in old-growth hardwood forests. These birds need huge territories in

order to survive. Old-growth forests of the southeast were virtually

destroyed by logging between the 1880s and the 1940s. With the

forests gone, the woodpeckers dropped from sight.

Scientists and amateur birders have been looking for the

ivory-billed woodpecker without success since the last

well-documented sighting in 1937. Problem is, most people were

looking in Georgia or Louisiana. The recent sightings were in

Arkansas, where a large remnant of old-growth forest persists. The

Nature Conservancy bought a large preserve to try to protect any

surviving birds. Now the hope is that there is actually a breeding

population of ivory-billed woodpeckers remaining, not just one lonely

male bird. The species is still in extreme peril of extinction and

may be the most endangered bird in North America.

A lone bird rarely survives, whether is it one ivory-billed

woodpecker in prime habitat or one black-throated magpie jay isolated

from the abundant population in Mexico. We hope that other

ivory-billed woodpeckers will be found. And we hope that the magpie

jay in Huntington Beach finds its way back to its friends and family

south of the border.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].