Black-rumped Magpie

How to identify

Field marks

1. Rump black, giving the bird its name
2. Wings and tail black, with a blue-green to purple metallic gloss
3. Large white stripes on the primaries visible in flight
4. Flanks and central underparts white

Voice

The typical call is a harsh, explosive, rapid chatter; the song is low and soft, audible only at close range.

Similar species

Oriental Magpie

Compared with Oriental Magpie, Black-rumped Magpie has a black rump, brighter plumage, a thicker bill and a shorter tail.

Eurasian Magpie

Compared with Eurasian Magpie, Black-rumped Magpie has a black rump, brighter plumage, a thicker bill and a shorter tail.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April · Most records: China, Bhutan

Black-rumped Magpie has been recorded at 128 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 2 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Ura ValleyBhutan127 records
2. Tharpaling MonasteryBhutan120 records
3. Baizha ForestChina111 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaBhutan

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 black-rumped magpie (Pica bottanensis) is a species of magpie native to west-central China and Bhutan, and possibly also irregularly in Sikkim in India, and in eastern Nepal. It is similar to other magpies in the genus Pica, with pied plumage with bluish-green iridescent wings and tail, but differs from the other species in the genus except for Asir magpie in having no white on the rump.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions