Azure-winged Magpie (China) - a photo on Flickriver

            The azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus), a bird in the crow family, is 31 to 35 cm long. The species is similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica), but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It has a glossy black cap to the head and a white throat. The underparts and the back are a light grey-fawn in colour with the wings and the feathers of the long (16–20 cm) tail an azure blue. There is a white tip to the tail. Sexes are similar. Juveniles have a brownish-black hood.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
The species occurs over a large region of eastern Asia in most of China, Korea, Japan and north into Mongolia and southern Siberia. It inhabits various types of coniferous (mainly pine) and broadleaf forest, including parks, orchards and gardens.

TAXONOMY AND SUBSPECIES
It was formerly thought to be conspecific with the Iberian magpie, but recent genetic analysis has shown them to be distinct at species level. The Iberian Magpie differs in having an all-blue tail (no white tip) and slightly darker body plumage. 
In total, eight subspecies are accepted.

BEHAVIOUR
Often azure-winged magpies find food as a family group or several groups making flocks of up to 70 birds. Gregarious, they congregate after the breeding season and throughout the winter months, forming noisy groups. The voice is a quick fired and metallic sounding kwink-kwink-kwink usually preceded by a single krarrah. Largely resident, but northernmost populations are more dispersive; higher altitude birds in Japan are also known to move to lower altitudes in winter.

DIET
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. When seeking invertebrates on the ground, they like to jump forward both feet together.

BREEDING
This species usually nests in loose, open colonies with a single nest in each tree. The on average 6–8 eggs are incubated for around 15 days.
Source: Wikipedia
   

Taken in: 中國 / 江苏省 / Nanjing Lukou International Airport (show map)

Taken on: July 23, 2017

Tags:

Azure-winged

Magpie

Blauelster

オナガ

Blåskade

Blåskata

Pega-azul

Aziatische blauwe ekster

Голуба́я соро́ка

Pie-bleue à calotte noire

blue

azure

rabilargo asiático

Asia

Sójka błękitna

Animalia

Chordata

Aves

Passeriformes

Corvidae

Cyanopica

animal

bird

vogel

wildlife

life

nature

white

grey

black

head

eyes

C. cyanus

Cyanopica cyanus

Cyanopica cyana

crow

Pica

cap

hooded

tip

tail

feathers

throat

fawn « less

Sets appears in: • 1500+ views • Asia more » • Birds « less

Groups appears in: • Field Guide: Birds of the World • Avibase

Camera: Nikon D5100, f/6.0, 1/125 sec, ISO 900 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D5100
Aperture:	f/6.0
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
ISO:	900
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Show full info

Stats: 2,548 views / 3 comments

go back

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder