Pica serica
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
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 70% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Magpie sighting in Taipei on a given day, based on 19,361 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 7th most-seen of the 266 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Magpie in Taipei on a given day, against about 50% in June and July, the lowest months. That is one of Taipei's driest months, with about 90 mm of rain against 270 mm in June.
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.
15th of 47
Of the 47 cities where we can rate Oriental Magpie sightings, Taipei ranks 15th at about 70%. The best odds are in Shijiazhuang (China, over 90%), Gwangju (South Korea, over 90%) and Seoul (South Korea, about 90%).
Same family: Corvidae
The closest relatives of the Oriental Magpie that you can see in Taipei (family Corvidae, Crows, Jays, and Magpies) are Gray Treepie (about 60%) and Formosan Magpie (about 20%), 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 Taipei (19,361 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.
