Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

Sometimes visual associations are misleading, but that’s not always the case. When I first saw a photo of an azure-winged magpie, I immediately thought of the California scrub-jay. I wondered if this magpie of eastern Asia and Siberia was a kind of analog to one of my most familiar (and vocal) “yard birds” in California. The answer, it seems, is ‘yes.’

Like scrub-jays, azure-winged magpies are adaptable and omnivorous birds, consuming a wide range of food (insects; spiders; fruits and nuts; carrion; tree bark) and caching food items capable of being stored, such as acorns and conifer seeds, for later. Another way these magpies are like the scrub-jay: individuals that live away from human population centers tend to be wary of our kind, but birds living in or near cities and towns become easily habituated to our presence, and routinely raid our trash cans and dumpsters for tasty scraps.

Perhaps I shouldn’t find the species’ physical and behavioral similarities surprising at all – magpies and jays are both members of the Corvidae family, which also includes crows and ravens. Unlike the scrub-jays I know so well, however, azure-winged magpies have a more communal tendency; they often forage in large groups of up to 70 birds and they usually nest in loose colonies. So maybe these two similarly-dressed corvids aren’t analogs, exactly, but evolutionary riffs on one another.

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.