Bird Album
Azure-winged Magpie
Cyanopica cyanus (Pallas, 1776)
≈32 cmLength96 gWeight
It has a black cap, sky-blue wings and a long sky-blue tail, and moves through parks in flocks.
Busiest months: May and October · Most records: China, South Korea, Japan
Looks like Oriental Magpie, Eurasian Magpie
How to identify
Field marks
- Crown, sides of neck and nape solid black
- Flight feathers, tail feathers and lower back sky-blue
- Tail feathers long, almost as long as the body, with white tips
- Scapulars and upper back slate-gray; underparts dirty white
Male, female and young
Sexes identical in shape and color; juveniles have dirty-white tips to the black crown feathers and shorter tail feathers.
Voice
A repeated metallic “kwink-kwink-kwink”, often preceded by a single “krarrah”.
Similar species
Where and when it's recorded
Azure-winged Magpie has been recorded at 845 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 5 countries and regions.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Mai Po Nature ReserveHong Kong (China)2,582 records
- Century ParkChina1,432 records
- Olympic Forest Park SouthChina1,272 records
More places
- Shahe ReservoirChina1,151 records
- Temple of HeavenChina962 records
- Beijing Botanical GardenChina928 records
- Peking UniversityChina880 records
- Edogawa Ward – Kasai Rinkai Park / Kasai Kaihin ParkJapan843 records
- Seoul – Olympic ParkSouth Korea763 records
- Summer PalaceChina753 records
Countries and regions with the most records
eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.
About
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 inhabits various types of coniferous (mainly pine) and broadleaf forest, including parks and gardens in the eastern populations.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Azure-winged Magpie?
The Azure-winged Magpie is about ≈32 cm long and weighs around 96 g.
Where does the Azure-winged Magpie live?
Its breeding range: Palearctic: eastern, Central Asia. It is most often recorded in China, South Korea and Japan.
When is the best time to see the Azure-winged Magpie?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in May and October (Northern Hemisphere).
Is the Azure-winged Magpie endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Azure-winged Magpie as Least Concern.
What does the Azure-winged Magpie eat?
Main food: Omnivore.
What family is the Azure-winged Magpie in?
It belongs to the family Crows, Jays (Corvidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).
At a glance
- Length
- ≈32 cm
- Weight
- 96 g
- Habitat
- Woodland
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Lifestyle
- Varied
- Migration
- Resident (barely migrates)
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 141 mm
- Tail
- 212 mm
- Bill
- 29 mm
- Tarsus
- 36 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Palearctic: eastern, Central Asia
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Subspecies · 1
- Cyanopica cyanus cyanus e Siberia, Mongolia, n, c, e China and Korean Pen.
Classification
- Order
- Passerines Passeriformes
- Family
- Crows, Jays Corvidae
- Genus
- Cyanopica
Other birds in the genus Cyanopica
Iberian MagpieCyanopica cooki
Malayan Black MagpiePlatysmurus leucopterus
Bornean Black MagpiePlatysmurus aterrimus
Siberian JayPerisoreus infaustus
Sichuan JayPerisoreus internigrans
Canada JayPerisoreus canadensis
Black-collared JayCyanolyca armillata
White-collared JayCyanolyca viridicyanus
Turquoise JayCyanolyca turcosa
Beautiful JayCyanolyca pulchra
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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Zinogre. ↗
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