MAGPIE

The 'magpies' are passerine birds of the crow family, Corvidae. The names 'jay' and 'magpie' are to a certain extent interchangeable, although this does not accurately reflect the evolutionary relationship between these birds. For example, the Eurasian Magpie seems more closely related to the Eurasian Jay than to the Oriental Blue and Green Magpies, whereas the Blue Jay is not closely related to either.
In Europe, "Magpie" is often used by English speakers as a synonym for the European Magpie, as there are no other magpies in Europe outside Iberia.
The bird was originally referred to as a 'pie' until the late 16th century when the feminine name 'mag' was added to the beginning.^[1]

Contents

Systematics and species

Other magpies

Trivia

References

External links

Systematics and species

According to Ericson ''et al.'' (2005), magpies do not form the monophyletic group they are traditionally believed to be; a long tail has certainly evolved (or shortened) independently in multiple lineages of corvid birds. Among the traditional magpies, there appear to be two evolutionary lineages: One consists of Holarctic species with black/white coloration and is probably closely related to crows and Eurasian jays. The other contains several species from South to East Asia with vivid coloration which is predominantly green or blue. The Azure-winged Magpie is a species with a most peculiar distribution and unclear relationships. It may be the single survivor of a long extinct group of corvid genera.
Other recent research (Lee ''et al''., 2003) has cast doubt on the taxonomy of the ''Pica'' magpies, since it appears that ''P. hudsonia'' and ''P. nuttalli'' may not be different species, whereas the Korean race of ''P. pica'' is genetically very distinct from the other Eurasian (and even the North American) forms. Either the North American, Korean, and remaining Eurasian forms are accepted as 3 or 4 separate species, or there exists only a single species, ''Pica pica''.
'Holarctic (black-and-white) magpies'

★ Genus ''Pica''

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★ European Magpie, ''Pica pica''

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★ American Black-billed Magpie, ''Pica hudsonia'' (may be conspecific with ''P. pica'')

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★ Yellow-billed Magpie, ''Pica nuttalli'' (may be conspecific with ''P. pica''/''P. hudsonica'')

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★ Korean Magpie, ''Pica sericea'' (may be conspecific with ''P. pica'')
'Oriental (blue/green) magpies'

★ Genus ''Urocissa''

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★ Formosan Blue Magpie ''Urocissa caerulea''

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★ Red-billed Blue Magpie, ''Urocissa erythrorhyncha''

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★ Gold-billed Magpie, ''Urocissa flavirostris''

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★ White-winged Magpie, ''Urocissa whiteheadi''

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★ Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, ''Urocissa ornata''

★ Genus ''Cissa''

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★ Green Magpie, ''Cissa chinensis''

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★ Yellow-breasted Magpie, ''Cissa hypoleuca''

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★ Short-tailed Magpie, ''Cissa thalassina''
'Azure-winged Magpie'

★ Genus ''Cyanopica''

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★ Azure-winged Magpie, ''Cyanopica cyana''

Other magpies

The Black Magpie, ''Platysmurus leucopterus'', despite its name, is neither a magpie nor, as was long believed, a jay, but a treepie. Treepies are a distinct group of corvids externally similar to magpies.
The Australian Magpie, ''Gymnorhina tibicen'', is conspicuously piebald, with black and white plumage reminiscent of a European Magpie, but it is not a corvid.

Trivia

★ In Korea, it is believed that good news will arrive when the cry of a magpie is heard.

★ In Chinese culture, the magpie is one of the most popular birds, and is seen as the messenger of good news and fortune. In fact, its name in Chinese means "bird of joy".

★ Magpies also feature in the Chinese folktale of "The Story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl" (among others), where they form a bridge for the separated lovers every year on the day of Qixi.

★ The 1950s cartoon characters Heckle and Jeckle are magpies.

References

1. ''Funk & Wagnalls Wildlife Encyclopedia'', Volume 11, 1974, p. 1339.


★ Anonymous (2006): ''The Word Origin Calendar'': Sat./Sun. March, 11-12, 2006. Accord Publishing.

★ Ericson, Per G. P.; Jansén, Anna-Lee; Johansson, Ulf S. & Ekman, Jan (2005): Inter-generic relationships of the crows, jays, magpies and allied groups (Aves: Corvidae) based on nucleotide sequence data. ''Journal of Avian Biology'' '36': 222-234. PDF fulltext

★ Lee, Sang-im; Parr, Cynthia S.; Hwang, Youna; Mindell, David P. & Choe, Jae C. (2003): ''Phylogeny of magpies (genus ''Pica'') inferred from mtDNA data. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' '29': 250-257. PDF fulltext

★ One for sorrow, two for mirth Lisa Tickner

External links

★ Magpie videos on the Internet Bird Collection

★ Magpie webcam Live webcam stream Magpies & Blackbirds nest