Laura Erickson's For the Birds

This exquisite corvid is conspicuous in open oak woodlands of central and southern California, but found nowhere else in the world. In parks and other places where magpies encounter people regularly, they can become quite tame and approachable, making them seem more common than they are.

Exceptionally vulnerable to West Nile virus and habitat loss, this species has declined by almost 3% per year between 1966 and 2014; the cumulative decline since the 60s is about 73%, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey.