Taiwan Blue Magpie
Urocissa caerulea Gould, 1863
63–68 cmLength257 gWeight
It is a long-tailed blue magpie with a black head, a red bill and white tips to the tail feathers.
Busiest months: November–December · Most records: China
How to identify
Field marks
- Head, neck and breast black; most of the remaining plumage blue
- Bill, legs and feet red; iris golden yellow
- Two central tail feathers longest, with white tips
- Undertail-coverts and wingtips white
Male, female and young
Sexes similar in plumage; chicks are grayish, with short tails and gray-blue eyes.
Voice
Noisy quacking notes; within flocks, also gives repeated, drawn-out piping notes and drawn-out quacking sequences with a different final note.
Where and when it's recorded
Busiest months: November–December · Most records: China
Taiwan Blue Magpie has been recorded at 46 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 1 country or region.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)2,704 records
- Taipei – Gongliao Dexin TempleTaiwan (China)950 records
- Taipei – National Taiwan University Main CampusTaiwan (China)849 records
More places
- Taipei – Taipei Botanical GardenTaiwan (China)719 records
- Taipei – WulaiTaiwan (China)557 records
- Taipei – Xindian SikanshuiTaiwan (China)454 records
- Taipei – Da'an Forest ParkTaiwan (China)253 records
- Taipei – NTU Experimental Farm/Ecological PondTaiwan (China)74 records
- Taipei – Beitou Zhongyi TrailTaiwan (China)71 records
- Yeliu IBATaiwan (China)66 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 Taiwan (China) blue magpie (Urocissa caerulea), also called the Taiwan (China) magpie, Formosan blue magpie (Chinese: 臺灣藍鵲; pinyin: Táiwān lán què), or the "long-tailed mountain lady" (Chinese: 長尾山娘; pinyin: Chángwěi shānniáng; Taiwanese Hokkien: Tn̂g-boé soaⁿ-niû), is a bird species in the crow family. It is endemic to Taiwan (China).
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Taiwan Blue Magpie?
The Taiwan Blue Magpie is about 63–68 cm long and weighs around 257 g.
Where does the Taiwan Blue Magpie live?
Its breeding range: Oriental: Taiwan (China). It is most often recorded in China.
When is the best time to see the Taiwan Blue Magpie?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in November and December (Northern Hemisphere).
Is the Taiwan Blue Magpie endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Taiwan Blue Magpie as Least Concern.
What does the Taiwan Blue Magpie eat?
Main food: Omnivore.
What family is the Taiwan Blue Magpie in?
It belongs to the family Crows, Jays (Corvidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).
At a glance
- Length
- 63–68 cm
- Weight
- 257 g
- Habitat
- Forest
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Lifestyle
- Perches in trees
- Migration
- Resident (barely migrates)
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 199 mm
- Tail
- 387 mm
- Bill
- 46 mm
- Tarsus
- 51 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Oriental: Taiwan (China)
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Classification
- Order
- Passerines Passeriformes
- Family
- Crows, Jays Corvidae
- Genus
- Urocissa
Other birds in the genus Urocissa
Sri Lanka Blue MagpieUrocissa ornata
Yellow-billed Blue MagpieUrocissa flavirostris
Red-billed Blue MagpieUrocissa erythroryncha
White-winged MagpieUrocissa whiteheadi
Malayan Black MagpiePlatysmurus leucopterus
Bornean Black MagpiePlatysmurus aterrimus
Siberian JayPerisoreus infaustus
Sichuan JayPerisoreus internigrans
Canada JayPerisoreus canadensis
Black-collared JayCyanolyca armillata
Download illustration
Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Frank Lin. ↗
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