Pica serica
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
The Oriental magpie (Pica serica) is a species of magpie found from southeastern Russia to eastern China, Korea, Taiwan, and northern Indochina and Myanmar. It is also naturalised in Japan. Other names include Korean magpie, Chinese magpie and Asian magpie. The scientific name serica means "silky [texture]" or "Chinese"; this is the original spelling, though sometimes erroneously "corrected" to sericea.
Like the other magpies, the Oriental magpie is a member of the large radiation of mainly Holarctic corvids, which also includes the typical crows and ravens (Corvus), the nutcrackers (Nucifraga), and the Old World jays. The long tail might be plesiomorphic for this group, as it is also found in the tropical Asian magpies (Cissa and Urocissa) as well as in most of the very basal corvids, such as the treepies. The unique black-and-white pattern of the "monochrome" magpies is an autapomorphy.
The Oriental magpie was first described as a species, based on specimens collected in Amoy (now Xiamen) in southeastern China in 1844. Due to its similarity to the Eurasian magpie in plumage, it was reduced to a synonym of it by Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1877, and then... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beijing Wildlife Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Shanghai Zoo | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Macau Zoo | 🇲🇴 Macao SAR China |
Very likely
About 90% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Magpie sighting in Seoul on a given day, based on 10,592 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the most-seen of the 231 birds we can rate there.
April–July and October–November
In those months over 90% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Magpie in Seoul on a given day, against about 90% in August–September and December–March, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Oriental Magpie sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 47
Of the 47 cities where we can rate Oriental Magpie sightings, Seoul ranks 3rd at about 90%. The best odds are in Shijiazhuang (China, over 90%) and Gwangju (South Korea, over 90%).
Same family: Corvidae
The closest relatives of the Oriental Magpie that you can see in Seoul (family Corvidae, Crows, Jays, and Magpies) are Large-billed Crow (about 80%), Azure-winged Magpie (about 40%) and Eurasian Jay (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Oriental Magpie is recorded against all the birds logged in Seoul (10,592 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
