Azure-winged magpie
Azure-winged magpie | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Corvidae |
Genus: | Cyanopica |
Species: | C. cyanus
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Binomial name | |
Cyanopica cyanus (Pallas, 1776)
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Synonyms | |
Cyanopica cyana |
The azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belongs to the genus Cyanopica.
It has a glossy black top to the head and a white throat. The underparts and the back are a light grey-fawn in colour with the wings and the
Distribution and habitat
It occurs over a large region of
Behaviour and ecology
Often azure-winged magpies find food as a family group or several groups making flocks of up to 70 birds. The largest groups congregate after the breeding season and throughout the winter months. Their diet consists mainly of acorns (oak seeds) and pine nuts, extensively supplemented by invertebrates and their larvae, soft fruits and berries, and also human-provided scraps in parks and towns.
This species usually nests in loose, open colonies with a single nest in each tree. There are usually 6–8 eggs that are incubated for 15 days. Azure-winged magpies that have asynchronous broods, creating a size hierarchy among nestlings, produce more eggs and fledge more nestlings than those which have synchronous broods.[4]
The
Gallery
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Azure-winged magpie in Tokyo
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Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
References
- . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- PMID 12204127.
- doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2004.00287.x. Archived from the originalon 2012-07-03.
- .