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Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) — photo 1 of 4
© Charles J. Sharp CC BY-SA 4.0

Crows and jays · Perching birds

Eurasian Magpie

Pica pica

Year-round

Voice

Call

Sonothèque ADVL

0:20

Alarm

Benoît Van Hecke

0:45

Call

Sonothèque ADVL

0:16

How to recognize it

  • Bold black-and-white pattern, very long tail longer than the body

  • Black head, chest and back with metallic sheen; white belly and shoulder patches

  • Undulating, gliding flight with obvious white flashes on open wings

  • Loud rattling chatter, often a sharp “shack-shack-shack” when alarmed

About the species

The Eurasian Magpie is hard to miss with its black-and-white look and long tail. On a walk, you often notice it first by its loud chatter and the quick way it moves through the branches.

It is noisy, alert, and usually travels in small groups from tree to tree. On the ground it moves by hopping, and in the canopy it is very agile; when alarmed, its sharp rattling call becomes especially quick and urgent.

It lives in small woods, parks, gardens, and groves, usually close to people and away from dense forest. It eats almost anything — insects, small animals, eggs and chicks, carrion, grain, seeds, and berries — and in many places stays all year.

Did you know?

  • Passes the mirror mark test

    The magpie recognises its own reflection in a mirror: spotting a red mark scientists had placed on its forehead, it tries to scrape it off — a behaviour previously thought to be reserved for great apes and humans.

  • Pioneer nest for kestrels

    The magpie acts as a settlement pioneer for half of small falcons and owls: first it builds a sturdy nest in a new copse, and a year or two later a kestrel or long-eared owl moves in.

  • Hundred metres of nest metal

    From a single city magpie nest, after the chicks had fledged, all the metal building material was removed — aluminium forks, wires and bent nails — and once straightened it came to more than a hundred metres of metal.

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Sources